77 flood insurance claims·$651,098 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 York 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 summer thunderstorms and tropical systems dominates the flood history of York County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 26 flash flood events, 21 general flood events, and 3 tropical storm events. Recent recorded incidents include flash flooding from heavy rain and thunderstorms on August 5, 2025, as well as widespread heavy rainfall associated with Tropical Cyclone Helene on September 27, 2024.
NFIP claim records indicate that flood impacts extend across multiple zones. Zone X properties recorded 38 claims with an average payout of $14,191 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Zone A properties accounted for 24 claims with an average payout of $10,523 and an average water depth of 4 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED properties logged 2 fewer claims but the highest average payout at $35,235 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Additional claims occurred in Zone UNKNOWN and Zone V.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in both shaded and unshaded Zone X areas, which accumulated the highest number of claims and substantial average payouts, as well as properties located in Zone A.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of York County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
32 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 1979, with 14 claims and $148,568 paid.
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.
24 NOAA storm reports from York County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the South Carolina flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 5 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.
50 since 1996: 26 flash floods and 21 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 5, 2025 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2024 | $2,000 |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $2.0M |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $25,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 5, 2025. An area of heavy rain with embedded thunderstorms developed over the South Carolina Piedmont in association with a surface low and stalled frontal boundary draped over the Coastal Plain. Localized very heavy rainfall resulted in flash flooding across portions of central and southern York County.
Flash Flood · Aug 30, 2024. Scattered thunderstorms and storm clusters developed across upstate South Carolina during the afternoon into the evening. A few of the storms produced brief strong-to-damaging wind gusts. In addition, the storms tended to move slowly, and one slow-moving storm cluster produced very heavy rainfall and flash flooding in York County.
Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Tropical Storm · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
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 York 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.