279 flood insurance claims·$4.1M 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 Island County, Washington. 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.
4% of Island County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
225 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 10 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 2006, with 46 claims and $580,506 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Tidal Surge, Landslides, and Mudslides and Severe Winter Storm, Landslides, and Mudslides.
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.
1 NOAA storm reports from Island County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Washington flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1980, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 5, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Nov 3, 2022 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Nov 5, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Dec 29, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 20, 2020 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, Tornado | Dec 10, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Nov 12, 2015 |
| Severe Windstorm | Aug 29, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
3 since 1996: 1 river or area floods and 2 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Storm Surge/Tide | Jan 26, 2012 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Dec 17, 2012 | $250,000 |
| Flood | Apr 3, 2009 | $10,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Storm Surge/Tide · Jan 26, 2012. High wind occurred in the Admiralty Inlet area. Storm surge destroyed fences and yards in the Sandy point and Admiralty Inlet areas.
Coastal Flood · Dec 17, 2012. High astronomical tides coincided with low pressure to cause record high tide levels throughout Puget Sound. Many homes and yards along the shoreline were flooded.
Flood · Apr 3, 2009. Heavy rain over Whidbey Island, from a stationary Puget Sound convergence zone, caused enough flow on Glendale Creek to burst a beaver dam. Subsequent rain and plugging of a culvert on Glendale Road led to part of the road being washed away. The flood stream eventually damaged about 8 homes.
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 Island 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.