582 flood insurance claims·$5.5M 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 Oakland 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.
Flash flooding from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Oakland County, Michigan, accounting for 24 out of 36 recorded flood events over the last 30 years. Slow-moving and training thunderstorms frequently drop torrential rainfall across the area, such as in June 2021 when widespread rainfall of 3 to 5 inches occurred, and in July 2021 during an active severe weather season. More recently, slow-moving thunderstorms on April 25, 2025 produced 2 to 3 inches of rain over northern portions of the county, and heavy rain on July 16, 2025 resulted in flash flooding in east-central areas.
National Flood Insurance Program records show significant claim activity outside of high-risk riverine areas. Zone A accounts for 228 claims with an average payout of $12,758 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Meanwhile, moderate-to-low risk Zone X properties recorded 201 claims with an average payout of $22,050 and an average recorded water depth of 21 inches, and Zone X shaded areas recorded 44 claims with an average payout of $42,471 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents in both designated high-risk flood zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas should pay close attention to local drainage conditions, as severe convective storms frequently produce damaging localized flooding outside of traditional floodplains.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
32% of Oakland County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
337 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 7 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 1981, with 60 claims and $175,109 paid.
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.
19 NOAA storm reports from Oakland County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Michigan flood stories →
15 federal disaster declarations since 1975, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Aug 24, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Jun 25, 2021 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 11, 2014 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 20, 2004 |
| Power Outage | Aug 14, 2003 |
| Snow | Dec 11, 2000 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Sep 10, 2000 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
36 since 1996: 24 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 25, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 27, 2021 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2021 | $2.0M |
| Flash Flood | Jul 24, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 8, 2021 | $3.4M |
| Flood | Aug 28, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 28, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 25, 2025. An cluster of slow moving, training thundestorms produced torrential rainfall over northern portions of Oakland County on the evening of April 25th. This resulted in a localized area of 2 to 3 inches of rain over Oakland County. The heaviest rain fall between approximtely 4:30pm and 7pm EDT, with light rain continuing through approximately 9pm.
Flash Flood · Jul 16, 2025. Heavy rain producing flooding caused flash flooding in East Central Oakland county. Radar estimates indicated 2 to 4 inches fell. A COOP observer reported 2.5 inches just east of Farmington.
Flash Flood · Aug 27, 2021. A quick 2 to 4 inches in a short period of time from thunderstorms lead to flash flooding across southern Oakland county and much of northern Wayne County.
Flash Flood · Jun 26, 2021. After several weeks of moderate to severe drought conditions in Southeast Michigan, an active weather pattern brought widespread rainfall and flooding to Metro Detroit and surrounding areas during the weekend of June 25-27th. Low pressure tracking along a stalled stationary boundary interacted with a very moist subtropical air mass to produce widespread 3 to 5 inches of rainfall across Metro Detroit (localized 6 t…
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 Oakland 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.