53 flood insurance claims·$623,025 paid·11 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 Jefferson 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.
10% of Jefferson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
41 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 3 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 2022, with 5 claims and $124,891 paid, the year of Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, 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.
4 NOAA storm reports from Jefferson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Washington flood stories →
29 federal disaster declarations since 1979, 11 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Dec 9, 2025 |
| 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 Winter Storms, Snowstorms, Straight-line Winds, Floodin | Dec 26, 2021 |
| 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 Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, Tornado | Dec 10, 2018 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, And A T | Dec 1, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
8 since 1996: 4 river or area floods and 4 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Coastal Flood | Nov 13, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 12, 2021 | $554,000 |
| Flood | Nov 14, 2015 | $200,000 |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2015 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Dec 10, 2014 | $300,000 |
| Storm Surge/Tide | Jan 26, 2012 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Dec 17, 2012 | $2,000 |
| Coastal Flood | Dec 17, 2012 | $250,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Coastal Flood · Nov 13, 2024. A combination of low atmospheric pressure and high astronomical tide produced minor to moderate coastal flooding on the Washington coast and in south Puget Sound.
Flood · Jan 12, 2021. The period from January 10 to 16 continued a pattern of a strong and persistent Aleutian Low pressure system in the eastern Pacific that began December 29, 2020 and which directed the jet stream and primary storm track at Washington State. This resulted in a series of atmospheric rivers and wind storms that battered Washington State. Water vapor transport into Washington State averaged 160-200% of normal during t…
Flood · Nov 14, 2015. The Elwha River flexed its new muscles during the most recent round of storms and severely damaged Olympic Hot Springs Road and effectively buried a campground in silt.|The river rose to 23.19 feet, major flood, on Nov. 17 during a heavy rainstorm that produced 5.6 inches of rain on that date in the Elwha watershed.|When the water receded, Olympic National Park officials discovered the water had washed out a 60-fo…
Flood · Feb 6, 2015. Floodwater from the Duckabush River has inundated a number of homes on Kelly Road in Brinnon. At one point, the Duckabush River was five feet higher than normal. Friday afternoon it started to recede.||Highway 101 along Hood Canal has received the brunt of the rainfall over the last 24 hours. A weather station at Green Mountain Elementary School recorded over 4.5 inches of rain near Bremerton in the last two days.
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 Jefferson 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.