Hurricane Florence
NFIP flood claims
- North Carolina holds 91.0% of the storm’s paid claims and South Carolina 8.7%; 2 states are listed.
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $18,080 in North Carolina to $49,468 in South Carolina.
- By paid claims (14,281), Hurricane Florence is the 12th highest of 42 named storms covered here, and the 18th lowest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
- The storm’s paid claims are spread over many counties: the first, Craven County, NC, holds 18.1% of them, ahead of Carteret County, NC and Pamlico County, NC.
Source: FEMA, OpenFEMA NfipClaims (v3, data as of 2026-09-09, retrieved 2026-10-12); CPI-U, U.S. city average, all items (CUUR0000SA0), annual average (BLS Public Data API v1, annual averages 2005-2025, retrieved 2026-10-12). Not an official federal report.
Landfall and storm report
The National Hurricane Center’s HURDAT2 best track of Hurricane Florence (AL062018, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 1 landfall, in or near a US county. It came on 2018-09-14 at 11:15 UTC, as a category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 kt: HURDAT2 position 34.2N 77.8W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: New Hanover County, NC.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-09-14 | 11:15 | 34.2N 77.8W | category 1 hurricane | 80 | 956 | New Hanover County, NC |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Florence (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Florence was a long-lived, category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale) that made landfall along the southeastern coast of North Carolina near the upper end of category 1.”
“Florence caused devastating freshwater flooding across much of the southeastern United States and significant storm surge flooding in portions of eastern North Carolina.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Florence
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Florence, year of loss 2018; 14,281 paid claims; median $19,597, half of them between $6,951 (Q1) and $57,711 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $24,480, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 14,281 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 12,990 | $18,080 |
| South Carolina | 1,248 | $49,468 |
Counties with the most paid claims
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Craven County | 37049 | 2,582 |
| Carteret County | 37031 | 2,037 |
| Pamlico County | 37137 | 1,210 |
| New Hanover County | 37129 | 1,194 |
| Beaufort County | 37013 | 1,067 |
| Pender County | 37141 | 999 |
| Horry County | 45051 | 876 |
| Brunswick County | 37019 | 780 |
| Onslow County | 37133 | 722 |
| Robeson County | 37155 | 669 |
Questions about Hurricane Florence flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Florence?
14,281 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Florence event label were paid (event: Hurricane Florence, year of loss 2018), with a median of $19,597; half of them fall between $6,951 and $57,711. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Florence flood claims?
Craven County, NC (2,582), Carteret County, NC (2,037) and Pamlico County, NC (1,210), across 2 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Florence flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$24,480 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $19,597 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Florence are not repair estimates: to estimate the cleanup of a flooded basement from published cost-guide rates, use the basement water damage repair cost calculator; for water removal and drying after any water loss, the water damage and mitigation calculator.
To set these figures against every State on one claims window, amounts paid, not repair cost: NFIP paid building claims by state.
Before using these figures
A storm total counts NFIP-insured buildings with a paid claim, not all the damage of the storm. Method and limits.
Source and notice
- Storm = floodEvent "Hurricane Florence" with yearOfLoss 2018; window of the extraction: yearOfLoss 2005-2025.
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).