110 flood insurance claims·$1.6M paid·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 St. Joseph 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.
3% of St. Joseph County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
71 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 4 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 2018, with 24 claims and $913,229 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.
2 NOAA storm reports from St. Joseph County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Michigan flood stories →
8 federal disaster declarations since 1978, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| 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 & Flooding | Sep 8, 1980 |
| Blizzards & Snowstorms | Jan 27, 1978 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
6 since 1996: 1 flash floods and 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Feb 20, 2018 | $680,000 |
| Flood | Jul 18, 2015 | — |
| Flood | Sep 13, 2008 | $500,000 |
| Flood | Feb 24, 1997 | — |
| Flood | Mar 1, 1997 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 1996 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Feb 20, 2018. A slow release of a snow pack, containing one to over two inches of water, occurred in the days leading to the event which started the process of river rises in many areas. Low pressure tracked from northwest Iowa into northern Lower Michigan, which ushered in a rapid warmup and equally rapid release of any remaining water in the snowpack. Several rounds of rain occurred between the 19th and 21st of February acros…
Flood · Jul 18, 2015. Weak shortwave trough moving through upper Michigan combined with retreating outflow boundary from morning/early afternoon storms, which moved through northern Indiana/northwest Ohio, spurned new storm development from southern Wisconsin southeast through northeast Illinois by later afternoon. Storms were initially sub-severe and disorganized, but a bowing segment developed as cold pool strengthened, causing wides…
Flood · Sep 13, 2008. Moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lowell and Hurricane Ike moved into the region and interacted with a stationary boundary to bring heavy rainfall to portions of far southern lower Michigan starting on the 11th, extending into the early morning hours of the 15th. Widespread reports of 8 to as much as 12 inches of rain were received across Berrien and Cass counties. A portion of the Niles Dam suffered a…
Flood · Feb 24, 1997. A spring like storm system developed over Western Texas on the 20th and tracked into Southern Michigan on Friday, the 21st. A warm moist flow of air from the Gulf of Mexico fed the storm and produced a few thunderstorms with moderate to heavy amounts of rain across Southwest Lower Michigan. The rain began on the afternoon of the 20th and continued through the 21st before changing to snow later that evening. Wid…
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 St. Joseph 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.