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FEMA flood zones · Michigan

Iron County, Michigan Flood Zone Map

3 flood insurance claims·$0 paid·1 federal flood & hurricane disasters

Less than 1% of Iron County’s area is in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones.

Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.

Coastal high risk (V, VE)FloodwayHigh risk (A, AE)Moderate (X, 500-year)Minimal (X)Undetermined (D)

Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Iron County, Michigan. 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.

In their words

2 NOAA storm reports from Iron County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Michigan flood stories →

Federal disasters

6 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.

DisasterBegan
Hurricane Katrina EvacuationAug 29, 2005
FloodingApr 10, 2002
Blizzards & SnowstormsJan 27, 1978
DroughtMar 2, 1977

Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.

Recorded flood events

13 since 1996: 4 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.

EventDateDamage
FloodApr 13, 2023$3.1M
FloodApr 26, 2022—
Flash FloodJul 9, 2020$1.0M
FloodApr 19, 2019—
FloodJun 11, 2017—
FloodJun 11, 2017$20,000
Flash FloodOct 17, 2016$100,000
Flash FloodJul 2, 2012$10,000

— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

From the storm reports

Flood · Apr 13, 2023. Rapid melting of much above normal snowpack caused widespread, and at times, extensive flooding over portions of west and central Upper Michigan from the 12th into the 25th. Extensive impacts from the flooding caused Governor Whitmer to declare a state of emergency declaration for eight counties in west and central Upper Michigan on the 21st.

Flood · Apr 26, 2022. A period of heavy rain combined with snowmelt caused minor flooding on the Paint River near Crystal Falls on the 26th.

Flash Flood · Jul 9, 2020. A very moist and unstable air mass spawned a mesoscale convective complex that moved through portions of western Upper Michigan and caused flash flooding over portions of Iron County during the early morning of the 9th.

Flood · Apr 19, 2019. Abundant and anomalously wet snow pack along with periods of moderate to heavy rain contributed to widespread minor river flooding across much of west and central Upper Michigan from the 18th through the end of the month.

National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

The zones you’ll see on the map

Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.

Cross-section of a river floodplainDiagram: a river valley. The floodway is the channel and the land beside it; the 1%-annual-chance flood surface (the base flood elevation) covers the valley floor as zone A or AE; a narrow band higher up is shaded X, the 0.2% floodplain; higher ground is X.0.2% CHANCE A YEAR (500-YEAR)BASE FLOOD ELEVATION · 1% A YEARXAEFloodwayAEX
  1. A / AE Inside the 1%-a-year floodplain: about a 26% chance of flooding over a 30-year mortgage. AE has a mapped base flood elevation; plain A does not.
  2. Floodway The channel and the land beside it that has to be kept clear enough to carry the flood. Building here is tightly limited.
  3. X shaded The 0.2% (500-year) floodplain, plus some levee-protected and very shallow flood areas.
  4. X Outside both lines. No federal requirement to insure, which is not the same as no risk.

Every flood zone code explained →

Flood insurance in Iron County

If a building in Iron 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.