Hurricane Harvey
NFIP flood claims
- In 2024 dollars (CPI-U), its median paid claim, $91,647, is 262.0% above the middle value of the storm medians ($25,316).
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $22,327 in Louisiana to $71,894 in Texas.
- Texas holds 99.5% of the storm’s paid claims and Louisiana 0.5%; 2 states are listed.
- By paid claims (75,216), Hurricane Harvey is the 3rd highest of 42 named storms covered here, and the 3rd highest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
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 Harvey (AL092017, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 5 landfalls, 3 of them in or near a US county. The strongest of those came on 2017-08-26 at 03:00 UTC, as a category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 kt: HURDAT2 position 28.0N 96.9W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: Aransas County, TX.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-08-18 | 10:00 | 13.1N 59.6W | tropical storm | 40 | 1,004 | no US county |
| 2017-08-18 | 15:00 | 13.2N 61.2W | tropical storm | 40 | 1,004 | no US county |
| 2017-08-26 | 03:00 | 28.0N 96.9W | category 4 hurricane | 115 | 937 | Aransas County, TX (1.3 km) |
| 2017-08-26 | 06:00 | 28.2N 97.1W | category 3 hurricane | 105 | 948 | Refugio County, TX |
| 2017-08-30 | 08:00 | 29.8N 93.5W | tropical storm | 40 | 991 | Cameron Parish, LA |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Harvey (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Harvey started as a typical weak August tropical storm that affected the Lesser Antilles and dissipated over the central Caribbean Sea.”
“The storm then stalled, with its center over or near the Texas coast for four days, dropping historic amounts of rainfall of more than 60 inches over southeastern Texas.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Harvey
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Harvey, year of loss 2017; 75,216 paid claims; median $71,614, half of them between $33,000 (Q1) and $125,200 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $91,647, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 75,216 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 74,833 | $71,894 |
| Louisiana | 383 | $22,327 |
Counties with the most paid claims
Harris County, TX alone accounts for 55.3% of the storm’s paid claims, followed by Galveston County, TX and Jefferson County, TX.
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Harris County | 48201 | 41,617 |
| Galveston County | 48167 | 7,229 |
| Jefferson County | 48245 | 6,412 |
| Brazoria County | 48039 | 4,232 |
| Orange County | 48361 | 3,760 |
| Fort Bend County | 48157 | 2,724 |
| Montgomery County | 48339 | 2,067 |
| Nueces County | 48355 | 2,008 |
| Aransas County | 48007 | 995 |
| Hardin County | 48199 | 773 |
Questions about Hurricane Harvey flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Harvey?
75,216 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Harvey event label were paid (event: Hurricane Harvey, year of loss 2017), with a median of $71,614; half of them fall between $33,000 and $125,200. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Harvey flood claims?
Harris County, TX (41,617), Galveston County, TX (7,229) and Jefferson County, TX (6,412), across 2 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Harvey flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$91,647 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $71,614 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Harvey 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 Harvey" with yearOfLoss 2017; 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).