676 flood insurance claims·$10.3M paid·3 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 Kent 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.
Kent County experiences an even distribution of flood and flash flood events driven by heavy rainfall, saturated soils, and river overflows. Recent events include record flooding along the Grand River in April 2013 that prompted a state disaster declaration, and significant rainfall totaling over three inches that caused road closures and home damage in May 2020 following an already wet week.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties located in high-risk Zone A face the highest exposure, accounting for 521 claims with an average payout of $22,890 and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Additional claims have occurred across various Zone X designations, including 51 claims in Zone X with an average payout of $15,012 and an average water depth of 8 inches; 35 claims in unshaded Zone X with an average payout of $5,676 and an average water depth of 26 inches; and 34 claims in shaded Zone X with an average payout of $15,503 and an average water depth of 20 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within Zone A and near major waterways like the Grand River, as well as low-lying areas vulnerable to runoff and flash flooding from heavy summer storms.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
12% of Kent County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
590 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 11 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 2013, with 160 claims and $4.7M paid, the year of 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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Kent County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Michigan flood stories →
13 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Aug 24, 2023 |
| Flooding | Apr 16, 2013 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 20, 2004 |
| Snow | Dec 11, 2000 |
| Mi - Severe Weather 1/2 /99 | Jan 2, 1999 |
| Severe Storms | May 29, 1998 |
| Severe Storms & Flooding | Sep 10, 1986 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
26 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 13 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 18, 2020 | $200,000 |
| Flood | Oct 2, 2019 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Apr 17, 2013 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 21, 2011 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Jun 21, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 21, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 31, 2010 | $200,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 18, 2020. Significant rainfall fell across all of Lower Michigan on May 17 and 18 with many locations in Southwest Lower Michigan reporting over 3 inches of rain. This was the culmination of an already wet week that had experienced three separate episodes of heavy rain. As a result, soil was already saturated and this additional rain immediately became runoff instead of soaking into the ground. There were many reports of r…
Flood · Oct 2, 2019. Two to nearly five inches of rain fell across portions of west central lower Michigan and resulted in some flooding of area roads and low lying areas. Several roads were closed.
Flood · Apr 17, 2013. Record flooding occurred during the month of April and record crests occurred on the lower portions of the Grand River at Ionia, Lowell, Ada, Comstock Park, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Due to the severity of the flooding, Michigan���s Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of disaster for 19 counties and two cities. ||The two cities declared in the disaster were Grand Rapids and Ionia. The counties included…
Flash Flood · Jul 27, 2011. Several rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms moved across southwest lower Michigan from July 27 to July 29, flooding roadways and intersections across areas near to mainly south of Interstate 96. The most significant impacts from flash flooding occurred in and near the Lansing area. Radar estimated that 6 to 10 inches of rain fell from July 27 to 29 near and southwest of Lansing.
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 Kent 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.