1 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 Keweenaw 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.
6 NOAA storm reports from Keweenaw County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Michigan flood stories →
5 federal disaster declarations since 1978, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Flooding | Apr 16, 2013 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Blizzards & Snowstorms | Jan 27, 1978 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
8 since 1996: 1 flash floods, 4 river or area floods and 3 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Flood | Dec 29, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 22, 2023 | $1.0M |
| Lakeshore Flood | Nov 27, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Lakeshore Flood | Sep 10, 2014 | $2,000 |
| Flood | Apr 28, 2013 | $72,000 |
| Flood | May 11, 2006 | $60,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 23, 2005 | — |
| Flood | May 11, 2003 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Lakeshore Flood · Dec 29, 2025. A surface low pressure rapidly deepened 22 mb in 24 hours as it tracked northeastward from the mid-Mississippi Valley to Chicago to the Georgian Bay, bringing blizzard conditions to the UP on the 28th and 29th. Rain turned to snow during the afternoon and evening of the 28th with a few inches of heavy, wet snow developing and sticking to trees. As the low moved east, cold air quickly rushed in and heavy snow conti…
Flood · Apr 22, 2023. Highway M-26 was closed on the evening of the 22nd due to the collapse of a retaining wall at the Silver River Bridge located between Eagle Harbor and Copper Harbor in Keweenaw County. The bridge's already compromised stone retaining wall eroded due to the heavy runoff from spring snow melt forcing the closure of Highway M-26. MDOT will be working on a $2.9 million project to remove and replace the bridge this s…
Lakeshore Flood · Nov 27, 2019. A deepening storm system tracking from the Central Plains across northern Lower Michigan snarled holiday traffic by dumping moderate to heavy snow across much of west and north central Upper Michigan on the 27th, the day before Thanksgiving. The dense heavy snow combined with strong northeast to east winds gusting from 35 mph to more than 50 mph at times to cause downed trees and power poles across much of Upper…
Lakeshore Flood · Sep 10, 2014. Heavy rain developing along a cold front tracked west to east across Upper Michigan on the 10th. Strong north winds behind the front caused coastal flooding and erosion along the Lake Superior over portions of west and north central Upper Michigan from the 10th into the 11th. The strong winds also caused a brief power outage and downed a couple of trees in Eagle Harbor.
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 Keweenaw 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.