194 flood insurance claims·$3.2M paid·7 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 Coos 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 dominates the flood risk profile in Coos County, with standard floods accounting for 122 of the 124 total recorded events in the NOAA Storm Events Database over the last 30 years, alongside one flash flood and one coastal flood. Frontal systems delivering heavy rain frequently drive this activity, such as a series of storms in January 2025 that caused the Coquille River at Coquille to rise above minor flood stage, and a stalled system in March 2025 that produced heavy rain and widespread river flooding across southwest Oregon.
Federal flood insurance claims data shows that properties in high-risk riverine areas face the most severe impacts. Zone A accounts for the majority of claims with 109 filings, averaging a payout of $32,099 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Properties in moderate-to-low risk zones also experience impacts, including 19 claims in unshaded Zone X with an average payout of $18,125 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches, and 10 claims in Zone X with an average payout of $11,684 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners and real estate professionals near rivers and in designated Zone A areas should pay the closest attention to flood risk, as these locations experience the highest frequency and severity of damage.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
18% of Coos County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
134 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 5 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 37 claims and $596,571 paid, the year of High Winds, Severe Storms and Flooding, Flooding, Land, Mud Slides, High Winds,severe Storms and Severe Winter Storms, Land and Mudslides, 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.
20 federal disaster declarations since 1964, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 13, 2025 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 10, 2024 |
| Wildfires And Straight-line Winds | Sep 7, 2020 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 23, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Dec 6, 2015 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 17, 2012 |
| Tsunami Wave Surge | Mar 11, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Dec 1, 2007 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
124 since 1996: 1 flash floods, 122 river or area floods and 1 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Feb 25, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 16, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 1, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Dec 29, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 28, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Dec 27, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 17, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Feb 25, 2025. Three days of heavy rain from a slow moving frontal system caused the Coquille River at Coquille to briefly and slightly rise above minor flood stage.
Flood · Mar 16, 2025. The strongest of a series of frontal systems stalled over southern Oregon on 03/16. It produced heavy rain that caused numerous rivers in southwest Oregon to flood.
Flood · Jan 4, 2025. A new series of frontal systems began on 01/01/2025 and caused the Coquille River at Coquille to rise above minor flood stage again from 01/04 into 01/06, although with a lower peak than occurred at the end of December 2024.
Flood · Jan 1, 2025. A break from the long series of frontal systems occurred from 12/30/2024 into 1/1/2025. This allowed the Coquille River at Coquille to drop below flood stage.
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 Coos 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.