492 flood insurance claims·$20.5M paid·10 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 Marion 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 flooding from heavy rain and severe weather dominates the flood history of Marion County, South Carolina, accounting for 23 of the 37 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 9 general flood events and 5 tropical storm impacts. Recent historical events include Tropical Storm Elsa in July 2021, Hurricane Ian in September 2022, and the remnants of Hurricane Debby in August 2024, which brought flash flooding and tropical storm conditions to northeastern South Carolina after landfalls in Florida and the South Carolina coast.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that flood claims are heavily concentrated in designated high-risk areas, with Zone A properties accounting for 307 claims averaging $47,055 in payouts and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Zone X properties also face significant risk, recording 98 claims with an average payout of $56,614 and an average water depth of 4 inches, alongside 83 claims in unknown zones averaging $26,700 and 2 inches of water depth. Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and Zone X should pay the closest attention to flood preparedness, as both zones have experienced repeated claims and matching average water depths during past inundation events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Marion County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
311 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 4 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 2018, with 232 claims and $10.4M paid, the year of Hurricane Florence.
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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Marion 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, 10 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 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 29, 2023 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 25, 2022 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Aug 31, 2019 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 8, 2018 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 6, 2017 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
37 since 1996: 23 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 8, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 28, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 16, 2018 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 16, 2018 | $50,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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-…
Tropical Storm · Sep 30, 2022. Hurricane Ian made landfall along the west coast of Florida on September 28, 2022, then moved across the Florida peninsula and exited off the east coast of Florida on September 29, 2022. Ian then moved north and made a second landfall near Georgetown, SC on September 30, 2022. Ian resulted in a variety of impacts across northeast South Carolina from tropical storm force winds to flash flooding, and storm surge.
Tropical Storm · Jul 8, 2021. Tropical Storm Elsa made landfall in the panhandle of Florida, then moved northeastward into the Carolinas and weakened. The storm still managed to down some trees and had tropical storm gusts.
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 Marion 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.