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Floods in California

Property owners in California have filed 53,270 federal flood insurance claims since 1978, with $758 million paid.

  • 53,270flood insurance claims since 1978
  • $758Mpaid on those claims
  • 1995most claims in one year, 8,256
  • 9thamong the states for claims
2025
  • Floods on record, by year

Over time

Flood insurance claims in California per year 1978: 1,184 1979: 615 1980: 2,815 1981: 593 1982: 2,103 1983: 4,563 1984: 186 1985: 104 1986: 2,578 1987: 114 1988: 498 1989: 72 1990: 53 1991: 266 1992: 822 1993: 1,286 1994: 215 1995: 8,256 8,256 1996: 934 1997: 3,111 1998: 6,766 1999: 216 2000: 448 2001: 511 2002: 460 2003: 236 2004: 506 2005: 2,976 2006: 642 2007: 54 2008: 274 2009: 153 2010: 826 2011: 275 2012: 278 2013: 76 2014: 562 2015: 125 2016: 426 2017: 1,775 2018: 395 2019: 1,233 2020: 120 2021: 297 2022: 483 2023: 1,815 2024: 583 2025: 255 1978198319881993199820032008201320182023

The deadliest floods since 1996

Notable events
Jan 5, 2019FloodAlameda, Contra Costa, Marin5$20,000
Feb 23, 1998Flash FloodLos Angeles, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara5—
Jan 1, 2006FloodColusa, El Dorado, Lake3$32.3 million
Jan 18, 2017Flash FloodOrange, Riverside, San Bernardino3$2.8 million
Dec 16, 2002FloodOrange, Riverside, San Bernardino3$860,000
Aug 26, 2003Flash FloodSan Bernardino3$50,000
Jan 2, 1997Flash FloodYuba3—
Feb 23, 1998Flash FloodOrange, Riverside, San Bernardino2$84.1 million
Dec 31, 2005FloodMarin0$108 million

Every county

Counties with any recorded events, highest first.

Floods by county in California
Los Angeles County9,104
Sonoma County7,403
Sacramento County3,864
Orange County3,839
Marin County3,301
San Diego County2,442
Riverside County1,636
Santa Cruz County1,633
Santa Clara County1,630
Monterey County1,492
Lake County1,432
Napa County1,361
Ventura County1,331
Santa Barbara County1,309
Contra Costa County1,202
San Mateo County1,110
San Bernardino County864
Placer County628
San Luis Obispo County613
Solano County594
Alameda County568
Merced County499
Tehama County428
San Joaquin County421
Tulare County366
Yolo County340
Butte County335
Yuba County320
Kern County280
Fresno County278
Shasta County256
Stanislaus County242
El Dorado County207
Humboldt County201
Sutter County199
Glenn County195
Mendocino County183
Colusa County160
San Francisco County147
San Benito County129
Imperial County103
Amador County78
Calaveras County74
Siskiyou County67
Nevada County63
Madera County63
Plumas County57
Lassen County52
Mono County46
Del Norte County37
Sierra County26
Trinity County23
Tuolumne County20
Kings County10
Alpine County5
Inyo County4

This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency’s website(s).