399 flood insurance claims·$7.0M 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 Florence County, South Carolina. 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 floods and general riverine flooding dominate the flood risk profile in Florence County, South Carolina, supported by a mix of tropical storm hazards over the last 30 years. NOAA records document numerous heavy precipitation events, notably including multiple flash flood occurrences in August 2024 associated with the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, which moved from Georgia across the South Carolina coast and inland toward the North Carolina border.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood impacts extend across multiple zones, with the highest concentration of historical claims occurring in Zone A with 210 claims averaging an 8-inch recorded water depth and a $20,378 average payout, and Zone X with 157 claims averaging a 7-inch recorded water depth and a $24,763 average payout. Additional claims occurred in Zone UNKNOWN (18 claims, averaging 2 inches and $12,003), Zone X_UNSHADED (10 claims, averaging 1 inch and $9,875), and Zone V (2 claims, averaging 4 inches and $1,742).
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, which account for the vast majority of historical flood insurance claims and recorded water depths in the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Florence County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
224 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 7 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 2016, with 137 claims and $2.7M paid, the year of Hurricane Matthew.
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.
18 NOAA storm reports from Florence County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the South Carolina flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1989, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 21, 2026 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Hurricane Debby | Aug 4, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 4, 2024 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 29, 2023 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 25, 2022 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Aug 31, 2019 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 8, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
61 since 1996: 31 flash floods and 26 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jul 22, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 10, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2024 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 10, 2024. Very deep moisture stayed in place following Tropical Storm Debby. The area was very flood-prone and scattered slow moving storms led to localized flooding especially since a front was stalled in the area.
Flash Flood · Aug 8, 2024. After making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on August 5, Debby weakened to a tropical storm as it slowly moved across southeastern Georgia and offshore before making another landfall along the central SC coast between Charleston and Georgetown. The storm then moved northwest to near the SC/NC border and weakened to a tropical depression on August 8 before quickly becoming a non-…
Flash Flood · Aug 7, 2024. After making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on August 5, Debby weakened to a tropical storm as it slowly moved across southeastern Georgia and offshore before making another landfall along the central SC coast between Charleston and Georgetown. The storm then moved northwest to near the SC/NC border and weakened to a tropical depression on August 8 before quickly becoming a non-…
Flash Flood · Jul 6, 2024. Back-building thunderstorms trained over a small area led to localized flooding in Florence County, SC.
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 Florence 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.