816 flood insurance claims·$24.5M paid·5 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 Clackamas County, Oregon. 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.
River flooding and localized inundation driven by atmospheric rivers, heavy rain, and snowmelt dominate the flood history of Clackamas County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 38 flood events resulting in 1 death, alongside 1 flash flood event that also resulted in 1 fatality. Recent documented events include a February 2025 storm fueled by a low pressure system, warmer temperatures, and prior snowfall that caused localized flooding, as well as an April 2019 atmospheric river that brought heavy rain and snowmelt, causing flooding along local rivers and the main-stem Willamette River.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating risk extends beyond primary floodways. Zone A accounts for the highest volume with 547 claims averaging a $39,126 payout and an average recorded water depth of 16 inches. Properties designated as Zone X, Zone X_UNSHADED, and Zone X_SHADED also experienced significant historical claims totaling 260 events combined, with average payouts ranging from $32,560 to $33,940 and average recorded water depths between 10 and 18 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated high-risk Zone A river corridors, as well as properties in various Zone X classifications where historical claims and average recorded water depths up to 18 inches demonstrate that significant flood risk exists outside mapped special flood hazard areas.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
23% of Clackamas County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
711 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 15 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 1996, with 437 claims and $15.5M paid, the year of High Winds, Severe Storms and 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.
9 NOAA storm reports from Clackamas County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oregon flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1964, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 10, 2024 |
| Milo Mciver Fire | Sep 10, 2022 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Clakamas County Fire Complex | Sep 8, 2020 |
| Riverside Fire | Sep 8, 2020 |
| Wildfires | Sep 8, 2020 |
| Beachie Creek Lionshead Fire Complex | Sep 7, 2020 |
| Wildfires And Straight-line Winds | Sep 7, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
39 since 1996: 1 flash floods and 38 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Feb 25, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 18, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Jan 13, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Dec 20, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Apr 8, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Oct 22, 2017 | — |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2015 | $128,000 |
| Flood | Dec 12, 2015 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Feb 25, 2025. A strengthening upper-level low and an associated strong low pressure system at the surface tracked just off the Pacific Northwest coast leading to a period of high winds. Warmer temperatures, additional rainfall and prior snowfall to this event facilitated localized flooding as well. The frontal passage during the early afternoon hours of Feb 24th allowed for a period of isolated severe thunderstorms later that a…
Flood · Jun 18, 2023. Heavy rain due to convective showers resulted in minor flooding of roads in Clackamas County.
Flood · Jan 13, 2021. A series of slow moving fronts brought periods of heavy rain along with strong winds. This resulted in high surf; coastal, river and urban flooding; landslides; and debris flows. As the front moved inland early on the 13th, a debris flow resulted in a fatality in the Columbia River Gorge. The front brought a burst of 35-50 mph winds to the Willamette Valley and southwest Washington interior resulting in over 100…
Flood · Dec 20, 2020. A series of strong Pacific fronts moved across the region bringing high winds to the coast with heavy rain across much of the area. The heavy rains resulted in flooding of some coastal rivers as well as small stream flooding and a debris flow.
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 Clackamas 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.