369 flood insurance claims·$6.3M paid·6 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 Essex County, New York. 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 standard flooding from severe summer weather dominate the historical flood character of Essex County, based on 65 flood events, 59 flash flood events, and 4 lakeshore flood events recorded over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include localized heavy rainfall and a landslide caused by a weak cold front on July 13, 2025. Additionally, the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl combined with tropical moisture and a stationary front to produce multiple rounds of locally severe flash flooding in Essex County on July 10, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show varying impacts across different zones. Zone A accounts for 166 claims with an average payout of $26,018 and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches. Zone X_UNSHADED records 29 claims with an average payout of $37,520 and an average water depth of 24 inches, while Zone X_SHADED shows 36 claims averaging $30,937 with an average depth of 9 inches. Standard Zone X properties account for 43 claims averaging $26,691 with an average depth of 7 inches, and Zone UNKNOWN has 95 claims averaging $1,593 with an average depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in high-risk Zone A, as well as those in Zone X variants where claims have resulted in significant payouts and substantial recorded water depths during past events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
28% of Essex County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
231 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 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 2011, with 108 claims and $4.2M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds and Hurricane Irene.
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.
86 NOAA storm reports from Essex County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the New York flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1993, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Remnants Of Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 8, 2024 |
| Severe Storm, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jul 10, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jul 9, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Mar 14, 2017 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 26, 2013 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 27, 2012 |
| Hurricane Irene | Aug 26, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
128 since 1996: 59 flash floods, 65 river or area floods and 4 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | $200,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | $250,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 24, 2023 | $75,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $2.0M |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2023 | $50,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 13, 2025. A weak cold front slowly moved across northern NY during the afternoon and evening hours of July 13th. Several rounds of tropical showers and thunderstorms traversed the area with a few storms pulsing to severe limits. In addition, localized heavy rainfall caused flash flooding in the form of a landslide.
Flash Flood · Jul 10, 2024. The remnants of TS Beryl combined with deep tropical moisture and a stationary front draped across the region produced multiple rounds of heavy showers and storms. This led to numerous reports of flash flooding, some locally severe across portions of eastern New York, mainly in Essex County.
Flash Flood · Jul 24, 2023. Scattered showers and thunderstorms affected portions of eastern New York during the afternoon and early evening hours of July 24. A few storms produced heavy rainfall, leading to isolated reports of flash flooding in Essex County, NY.
Flood · Dec 18, 2023. A very deep trough across the eastern seaboard allowed a deep, mild, moist flow from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean to feed into the northeast United States, including VT and NY on December 17th and 18th.||Surface low pressure across Florida on December 17th moved north along the eastern seaboard into New England on December 18th. Mild, moist air delivered 1.5 to 3+ inches of rainfall to northeast NY al…
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 Essex 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.