84 flood insurance claims·$1.9M paid·12 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 Orange 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 and heavy rainfall events dominates the flood profile of Orange County, Vermont, accounting for 20 out of 33 recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside 13 general flood events.
Significant historical events illustrate this risk, including torrential downpours from clusters of showers and thunderstorms that caused considerable flash flooding across the region on July 7, 2023. Earlier, a storm system on December 18, 2023, delivered 1.5 to 3-plus inches of rainfall combined with mild temperatures and snowmelt, resulting in general flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that homeowners in Special Flood Hazard Area Zone A should pay the most attention, as this zone accounts for the majority of claims (55 claims averaging $27,510 with an average recorded water depth of 10 inches). However, properties in Zone X and unshaded Zone X also face risk, having logged 20 combined claims with average water depths of 8 to 10 inches and average payouts reaching up to $71,293.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Orange County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
65 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 9 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 25 claims and $811,738 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.
28 NOAA storm reports from Orange County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Vermont flood stories →
34 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 12 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 Storm And Flooding | Dec 18, 2023 |
| Flooding | Jul 9, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 7, 2023 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Dec 22, 2022 |
| Tropical Storm Henri | Aug 22, 2021 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Oct 31, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
33 since 1996: 20 flash floods and 13 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | $250,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 7, 2023 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Feb 25, 2017 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2017 | $1.9M |
| Flood | Apr 15, 2014 | $300,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2013 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 9, 2013 | $200,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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.
Flood · Dec 18, 2023. A very deep trough across the eastern seaboard allowed a deep, mild, moist flow from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean to feed into the northeast United States, including VT and NY on December 17th and 18th.||Surface low pressure across Florida on December 17th moved north along the eastern seaboard into New England on December 18th. Mild, moist air delivered 1.5 to 3+ inches of rainfall to northeast NY al…
Flash Flood · Jul 7, 2023. Clusters of showers and thunderstorms crossed the Green Mountain state on July 7, 2023. Torrential downpours were frequent with some storms repeatedly training over the southern and central Green Mountains as well in portions of northeastern Vermont where, in some cases, considerable flash flooding occurred.
Flood · Feb 25, 2017. Warm temperatures the last week of February started snow melt, and 1/2 to 1 inch of rainfall ahead of a cold front on Saturday 2/25 caused significant river rises and ice break up. Ice jam flooding closed roads, and river flooding had minor impacts. In addition, A potent storm traveling across the Northern Great Lakes, Ontario and Quebec delivered very warm temperatures into the 70s across Vermont during the after…
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 Orange 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.