99 flood insurance claims·$1.5M 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 Addison County, Vermont. 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 dominates the flood profile of Addison County, accounting for 49 of the last 30 years' recorded flood events, alongside 27 general floods and 4 lakeshore floods. Severe weather events drive this risk, such as the August 3, 2023 storm where a cluster of training showers and thunderstorms dropped 3 to 6 inches of rain and caused severe flash flooding, hitting the Town of Middlebury hardest. Another event on May 17, 2025, produced 2 to 3 inches of rain from training thunderstorms over an unstable airmass.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that property owners across multiple zones face financial loss. Zone A leads with 68 claims averaging a payout of $16,795 with an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. However, properties in Zone X_SHADED experience severe localized depth, averaging 84 inches of recorded water across 5 claims with an average payout of $36,466. Zone X recorded 13 claims averaging $35,690 with an average water depth of 3 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 8 claims averaging $10,570 with an average water depth of 45 inches.
Homeowners in Zone A and shaded or unshaded Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to flood risk, given the significant average payouts and recorded water depths associated with these designations.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
16% of Addison County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
81 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 13 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 2011, with 36 claims and $797,442 paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding and Hurricane Irene.
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.
58 NOAA storm reports from Addison County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Vermont flood stories →
30 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Tropical Depression Debby | Aug 8, 2024 |
| Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 9, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 3, 2023 |
| Flooding | Jul 9, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 7, 2023 |
| Tropical Storm Henri | Aug 22, 2021 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Oct 29, 2017 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
80 since 1996: 49 flash floods, 27 river or area floods and 4 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 17, 2025 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2025 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2023 | $500,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2023 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2023 | $1.2M |
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2022 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 26, 2021 | $10,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 17, 2025. A weak area of low pressure and associated front moved across northern NY and Vermont during the afternoon and evening hours of May 17th. This system moved across a relatively unstable airmass across the region that resulted in numerous showers and thunderstorms.||Some of the thunderstorms were severe with damaging winds and large hail upward of golf ball size (1.75 inches diameter). In addition there was heavy ra…
Flash Flood · Jul 10, 2025. A weak cold front slowly moved across northern NY and VT during the afternoon and evening hours of July 10th. Several rounds of tropical showers and thunderstorms traversed the area with a few storms pulsing to severe limits and localized excessive rainfall (4-5+ inches) in NE VT leading to localized flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Jul 10, 2024. The remnants of TS Beryl combined with deep tropical moisture and a stationary front draped across the region produced multiple rounds of heavy showers and storms. This led to numerous reports of flash flooding, some locally severe across a roughly 50 mile swath through Chittenden, Washington, Lamoille, Caledonia, Orleans and Essex Counties.
Flash Flood · Jul 14, 2023. Scattered thunderstorms, some with torrential rainfall affected scattered areas across Vermont on July 14. Two to locally four inches of rain fell in a some areas, leading to a few reports of flash flooding and road washouts.
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 Addison 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.