24 flood insurance claims·$194,534 paid·9 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 Amite County, Mississippi. 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 and tropical weather systems dominate the flood risk profile in Amite County, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 8 flash floods, 4 tropical storms, 3 hurricanes, and 1 tropical depression over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include a severe weather system on December 14, 2022, that produced flash flooding alongside tornadoes, and Hurricane Ida on August 29, 2021.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate historical claims across multiple zones with varying severity. Properties in Zone UNKNOWN account for 21 claims with an average payout of $9,200 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Zone A includes 2 claims with an average payout of $5,049 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Zone X accounts for 1 claim with an average payout of $14,681 and an average recorded water depth of 99 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone UNKNOWN, which has the highest volume of historical claims, as well as properties in Zone X that have experienced significant recorded water depths during severe weather events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
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 1979, with 10 claims and $88,480 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.
11 NOAA storm reports from Amite County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
29 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes. | Jun 14, 2023 |
| Hurricane Ida | Aug 28, 2021 |
| Hurricane Delta | Oct 7, 2020 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Hurricane Marco And Tropical Storm Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 22, 2020 |
| Hurricane Isaac | Aug 26, 2012 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
16 since 1996: 8 flash floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Mar 22, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 14, 2022 | $300,000 |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 29, 2021 | $1.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | $500,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 12, 2016 | $590,000 |
| Flash Flood | Mar 28, 2014 | $100,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 28, 2012 | $250,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 2, 2011 | $5,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Mar 22, 2022. An upper level system moved into north-central Texas on March 22nd. Thunderstorms began developing in the unstable warm sector ahead of a cold front moving east into east Texas and western LA. Very strong low and mid level winds ahead of the cold front brought in ample low level moisture with dewpoints reaching into the 70's near the coast. As temperatures at the surface warmed into the 80s and temps aloft dropped…
Flash Flood · Dec 14, 2022. A strong upper level disturbance and surface low produced several supercell thunderstorms with embedded tornadoes across Southeast Louisiana and Southern Mississippi during the late afternoon and evening hours of Wednesday December 14, 2022. These supercell thunderstorms produced straight line wind damage, flash flooding and tornadoes. ||2 tornadoes have been confirmed in Mississippi from this event. These tornado…
Hurricane (Typhoon) · Aug 29, 2021. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea on August 23rd. On August 26th, the wave developed into a tropical depression, which organized further and became Tropical Storm Ida later that day, near Grand Cayman. On a northwestward track, Ida intensified into a hurricane on August 27, just before…
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2020. Delta first developed into a tropical depression in the Caribbean just south of Jamaica on the afternoon of October 4th. As it tracked across the western Caribbean, it rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane. In fact, intensifying from tropical depression to Category strength in 40 hours is the fastest rate of intensification of any storm on record in the Atlantic Basin. Delta quickly weakened to a categor…
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 Amite 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.