Flood Help Guide

Washington flood insurance and flood history

From FEMA's flood insurance and disaster data · Updated 2026-10-08

16,074NFIP flood claims since 1978
$368.2 millionPaid on those claims
$54,716Average paid claimlast 10 years
0.9%Homes with NFIP flood insurance
23Flood disaster declarationssince 2000

FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) data lists 16,074 flood insurance claims in Washington since 1978. The NFIP paid $368.2 million on them (building, contents and Increased Cost of Compliance payments, in the dollars of the year paid).

The year with the most claims was 1996, with 1,917, mostly from Flooding.

In the last ten years (2017–2026) there were 2,470 claims, and the average paid claim was $54,716.

24% of the claims with a recorded flood zone came from buildings outside FEMA's high-risk zones (rated zones B, C and X).

About 0.9% of homes in Washington had an NFIP flood policy in FEMA's latest count (23,122 of 2,481,708 residential buildings). In the high-risk flood zones (Special Flood Hazard Areas), it was 40% (16,014 of 39,781).

Since 2000, FEMA has made 23 flood-related disaster declarations covering parts of Washington. The most recent was DR-4906-WA (Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides), declared April 7, 2026.

Flood insurance claims in Washington by year

NFIP flood claims per year in Washington, 1978 to 202605001k1.5k2k1978: 31 claims, $83,051 paid1979: 179 claims, $674,260 paid1980: 487 claims, $5.7 million paid19801981: 125 claims, $368,549 paid1982: 215 claims, $655,037 paid1983: 123 claims, $793,237 paid1984: 91 claims, $330,745 paid1985: 6 claims, $13,424 paid1986: 370 claims, $3.9 million paid1987: 31 claims, $293,146 paid1988: 6 claims, $14,308 paid1989: 79 claims, $480,015 paid1990: 1,610 claims, $21.4 million paid19901991: 92 claims, $848,813 paid1992: 21 claims, $70,044 paid1993: 30 claims, $205,572 paid1994: 72 claims, $652,590 paid1995: 882 claims, $11.0 million paid1996: 1,917 claims, $36.9 million paid1997: 409 claims, $4.2 million paid1998: 143 claims, $1.2 million paid1999: 195 claims, $2.1 million paid2000: 28 claims, $263,029 paid20002001: 75 claims, $900,176 paid2002: 45 claims, $167,391 paid2003: 425 claims, $6.7 million paid2004: 49 claims, $619,911 paid2005: 35 claims, $358,251 paid2006: 1,356 claims, $32.6 million paid2007: 1,062 claims, $52.7 million paid2008: 125 claims, $1.1 million paid2009: 1,758 claims, $46.6 million paid2010: 221 claims, $2.4 million paid20102011: 159 claims, $1.4 million paid2012: 174 claims, $3.3 million paid2013: 59 claims, $376,725 paid2014: 109 claims, $3.8 million paid2015: 662 claims, $12.2 million paid2016: 148 claims, $2.4 million paid2017: 112 claims, $1.2 million paid2018: 70 claims, $1.0 million paid2019: 57 claims, $1.1 million paid2020: 255 claims, $6.5 million paid20202021: 480 claims, $26.1 million paid2022: 513 claims, $19.8 million paid2023: 66 claims, $1.2 million paid2024: 30 claims, $1.1 million paid2025: 854 claims, $49.7 million paid2026: 33 claims, $643,184 paid
NFIP claims per year by year of loss. Hover or tap a bar for the count and amount paid. 2026 is partial.
Show as a table
YearClaimsPaid
202633$643,184
2025854$49.7 million
202430$1.1 million
202366$1.2 million
2022513$19.8 million
2021480$26.1 million
2020255$6.5 million
201957$1.1 million
201870$1.0 million
2017112$1.2 million
2016148$2.4 million
2015662$12.2 million
2014109$3.8 million
201359$376,725
2012174$3.3 million
2011159$1.4 million
2010221$2.4 million
20091,758$46.6 million
2008125$1.1 million
20071,062$52.7 million
20061,356$32.6 million
200535$358,251
200449$619,911
2003425$6.7 million
200245$167,391
200175$900,176
200028$263,029
1999195$2.1 million
1998143$1.2 million
1997409$4.2 million
19961,917$36.9 million
1995882$11.0 million
199472$652,590
199330$205,572
199221$70,044
199192$848,813
19901,610$21.4 million
198979$480,015
19886$14,308
198731$293,146
1986370$3.9 million
19856$13,424
198491$330,745
1983123$793,237
1982215$655,037
1981125$368,549
1980487$5.7 million
1979179$674,260
197831$83,051

Biggest flood events by NFIP payments

The flood events FEMA's claims data names most often for Washington, ranked by what the NFIP paid. FEMA names events in its claims records; claims without an event name aren't included here.

EventYearClaimsPaid
Winter storm20071,017$52.3 million
2025-12-AtmosphericRiver2025824$48.3 million
Flooding19961,595$32.8 million
Torrential rain20061,092$28.3 million
Flooding19901,382$19.2 million
Mt. St. Helens Eruption1980182$3.9 million
Flooding1986279$3.1 million
Flooding1995166$2.5 million
Flooding1997112$901,983
Flooding1979118$543,707

Flood history by county

Every Washington county in FEMA's data, sorted by number of NFIP claims since 1978. "Insured" is the share of homes with an NFIP policy.

CountyClaimsPaidInsuredFlood declarations
King County3,384$66.6 million0.8%11
Lewis County2,102$82.7 million2.9%16
Snohomish County1,961$37.1 million0.7%15
Skagit County1,294$22.7 million4.9%13
Whatcom County1,211$53.1 million1.9%8
Pierce County1,106$26.0 million0.7%6
Grays Harbor County921$14.0 million4.1%14
Cowlitz County684$14.9 million2.0%7
Thurston County387$6.5 million0.9%9
Yakima County320$2.8 million0.9%3
Mason County305$6.4 million1.2%14
Island County279$4.1 million2.2%10
Kittitas County255$3.4 million2.3%5
Kitsap County229$4.2 million0.8%3
Pacific County216$4.1 million2.3%11
Chelan County183$3.0 million1.2%7
Clark County162$2.3 million0.4%4
Benton County109$1.5 million0.3%3
Clallam County101$1.2 million0.8%15
Walla Walla County100$1.9 million0.7%2
Pend Oreille County99$1.6 million1.0%5
Wahkiakum County93$1.8 million5.3%16
Okanogan County89$478,7760.8%6
Spokane County62$1.8 million0.1%3
Whitman County58$660,6530.3%1
Columbia County56$501,3252.1%4
Jefferson County53$623,0251.0%15
Klickitat County20$286,0010.2%7
Grant County18$80,8190.5%1
Skamania County15$333,9370.4%12
Stevens County15$61,4260.3%1
Lincoln County12$38,7680.4%3
San Juan County9$140,4420.7%4
Adams County8$9,9010.1%1
Asotin County4$54,4800.1%1
Douglas County4$50,0290.2%0
Ferry County4$53,7400.3%3
Garfield County2$951.1%4
Franklin County1$00.1%2

Flood-related FEMA disaster declarations in Washington

Declarations since 2000 that FEMA lists as involving flooding. "Help for individuals" means FEMA's Individual Assistance was approved for at least part of the area.

DeclarationDeclaredEventHelp for individuals
DR-4906-WA Apr 7, 2026 Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides Yes
EM-3629-WA Dec 12, 2025 Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-4775-WA Apr 28, 2024 Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-4682-WA Jan 12, 2023 Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-4650-WA Mar 29, 2022 Severe Winter Storms, Snowstorms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding No
DR-4635-WA Jan 5, 2022 Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides Yes
DR-4593-WA Apr 8, 2021 Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-4539-WA Apr 23, 2020 Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-4418-WA Mar 4, 2019 Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, Tornado No
DR-4384-WA Aug 17, 2018 Flooding No
DR-4309-WA Apr 21, 2017 Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides No
DR-4253-WA Feb 2, 2016 Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides, and A T No
DR-4249-WA Jan 15, 2016 Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-4168-WA Apr 2, 2014 Flooding and Mudslides Yes
EM-3370-WA Mar 24, 2014 Flooding and Mudslides No
DR-4083-WA Sep 25, 2012 Severe Storm, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding No
DR-4056-WA Mar 5, 2012 Severe Winter Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-1963-WA Mar 25, 2011 Severe Winter Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-1817-WA Jan 30, 2009 Severe Winter Storm, Landslides, Mudslides, and Flooding Yes
DR-1734-WA Dec 8, 2007 Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides Yes
DR-1671-WA Dec 12, 2006 Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides Yes
DR-1641-WA May 17, 2006 Severe Storms, Flooding, Tidal Surge, Landslides, and Mudslides No
DR-1499-WA Nov 7, 2003 Severe Storms and Flooding Yes

What to do with this

A county's history doesn't tell you your own building's risk. To see your property's flood zone, use FEMA's flood map lookup. To weigh coverage, start with do I need flood insurance? and what flood insurance costs.

Where these numbers come from

All figures on this page are calculated from FEMA's public OpenFEMA datasets:

FEMA's redacted claims data doesn't identify properties, and FEMA notes that some records lack a county or flood zone. See how we use the data.