358 flood insurance claims·$4.6M paid·6 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Aroostook County, Maine. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
River flooding dominates Aroostook County, accounting for 96 events and one death over the last 30 years, alongside 65 flash flood events and 5 tropical storm events. River flood hazards are frequently driven by ice jams, such as those documented on the Aroostook River and Mattawamkeag River in March 2025 and April 2023, which caused road closures, isolated camps, and impacted areas from Caribou and Fort Fairfield to Wade and Bancroft Road.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating risk extends beyond mapped high-risk areas. Properties in Zone A logged 174 claims with an average payout of $13,950 and an average recorded water depth of 16 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 51 claims with an average payout of $19,949 and an average water depth of 26 inches, and Zone X shaded areas recorded 26 claims with an average payout of $18,134 and an average water depth of 23 inches. Unshaded Zone X properties saw 47 claims averaging $27,016 with an average depth of 7 inches, while Zone Unknown logged 60 claims averaging $1,796 with an average depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated near rivers and low-lying areas susceptible to ice jams and overflow, as well as properties in both high-risk Zone A and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas where historical claims and standing water depths demonstrate significant financial and physical impact.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
30% of Aroostook County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
247 NFIP claims with a recorded rated flood zone, 1978 to date. The zone is the one FEMA used to rate that policy, which may not match today’s map. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 14 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
The worst year was 2008, with 79 claims and $2.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding.
Bar height is scaled by square root so ordinary years stay visible next to the worst one. NFIP claims by year of loss. Source: OpenFEMA.
53 NOAA storm reports from Aroostook County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Maine flood stories →
148 federal disaster declarations since 1970, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Lee | Sep 15, 2023 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Dec 12, 2010 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 28, 2008 |
| Snow | Dec 25, 2005 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Snow Melt, And Ice Jams | Mar 29, 2005 |
| Snow | Mar 9, 2005 |
| Record And/or Near Record Snow | Feb 10, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
166 since 1996: 65 flash floods and 96 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 21, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 20, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 16, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Apr 14, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Jan 2, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 28, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 21, 2025. An ice jam on the Aroostook River between Caribou and Fort Fairfield led to flooding which closed portions of the North Caribou Road and Strickland Road. This ice jam developed during the evening of the 20th and persisted into the afternoon of the 26th. A second ice jam developed near Wade during the morning of the 21st and persisted into the morning of the 27th. This ice jam led to flooding along Gardner Creek Ro…
Flood · Mar 20, 2025. An ice jam on the Aroostook River between Caribou and Fort Fairfield led to flooding which closed portions of the North Caribou Road and Strickland Road. This ice jam developed during the evening of the 20th and persisted into the afternoon of the 26th. A second ice jam developed near Wade during the morning of the 21st and persisted into the morning of the 27th. This ice jam led to flooding along Gardner Creek Ro…
Flood · Mar 19, 2025. An ice jam developed on the upper reaches of the Mattawamkeag River during the morning of the 19th and persisted into the evening. Flooding in the vicinity of the ice jam temporarily led to the closure of Bancroft Road. Water levels receded during the evening allowing the road to re-open.
Flash Flood · Jun 29, 2023. An upper level low slowly crossed the region during the 29th. Instability with the cold pool aloft and diurnal heating led to the development of slow moving and training thunderstorms through the afternoon into the evening. With abundant moisture available...the storms produced heavy rain. The heavy rain led to localized flash flooding in the vicinity of Frenchville in the Saint John Valley of northeast Aroostook…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Aroostook County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.