336 flood insurance claims·$3.3M paid·4 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 Ottawa 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.
Ottawa County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by flash flooding from summer thunderstorms alongside river flooding. NOAA records from the last 30 years document 13 flash flood events resulting in 1 death, and 8 general flood events resulting in 1 death. Significant events include record flooding in April 2013 on the lower portions of the Grand River that prompted a state disaster declaration, and heavy rainfall on May 17–18, 2020, following an already wet week that produced saturated soils, road closures, and home damage.
FEMA National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood claims occur across multiple zones. High-risk Zone A accounts for 156 claims with an average payout of $13,766 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Properties in moderate- to low-risk zones also experience losses, including Zone X with 88 claims averaging $13,561 and 7 inches of average recorded water depth, unshaded Zone X with 33 claims averaging $15,212 and 3 inches of average depth, and shaded Zone X with 30 claims averaging $20,452 and 5 inches of average depth. An additional 29 claims were recorded in unknown zones with an average payout of $16,699 and an average water depth of 8 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, as well as properties situated near rivers and those in shaded or unshaded Zone X areas where accumulated heavy rainfall and saturated soils consistently generate property damage and insurance claims.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
29% of Ottawa County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
219 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 8 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 61 claims and $628,265 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.
17 NOAA storm reports from Ottawa County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Michigan flood stories →
16 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Flooding | Apr 16, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 6, 2008 |
| 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.
21 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 18, 2020 | $5.0M |
| Flood | Apr 17, 2013 | $5.0M |
| Flash Flood | Jun 21, 2011 | $1.5M |
| Flash Flood | Jun 21, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2009 | $34.0M |
| Flood | Dec 27, 2008 | $3.6M |
| Flood | Jun 8, 2008 | $5,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jun 7, 2008 | $1.0M · 1 killed |
— = 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 · 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 · Jun 21, 2011. A warm front moved north across southern and central lower Michigan during the day of June 21st, allowing a much warmer and very humid airmass to advect into the area. Thunderstorms developed during the mid afternoon hours due to the building heat and instability and lake breeze convergence. The first of the thunderstorms developed near Holland around 4 p.m. just a couple miles inland of Lake Michigan where the…
Flash Flood · Jun 19, 2009. Thunderstorms developed and moved across Lake Michigan during the evening hours on June 19th. Several hours of intense rainfall occurred starting around 7:00 PM EST. The ground was already saturated from early morning thunderstorms that produced very heavy rainfall. In addition to the heavy rain, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes accompanied the thunderstorms.
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 Ottawa 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.