Hurricane Ike
NFIP flood claims
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $5,064 in Alabama to $30,864 in Texas.
- By paid claims (45,361), Hurricane Ike is the 5th highest of 42 named storms covered here, and the 11th highest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
- Texas holds 74.2% of the storm’s paid claims and Louisiana 15.5%; 6 states are listed.
- Galveston County, TX alone accounts for 42.2% of the storm’s paid claims, followed by Harris County, TX and Orange County, TX.
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 Ike (AL092008, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 4 landfalls, 1 of them in or near a US county. It came on 2008-09-13 at 07:00 UTC, as a category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 95 kt: HURDAT2 position 29.3N 94.7W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: Galveston County, TX.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09-07 | 13:00 | 21.0N 73.2W | category 3 hurricane | 110 | 947 | no US county |
| 2008-09-08 | 02:00 | 21.1N 75.7W | category 4 hurricane | 115 | 945 | no US county |
| 2008-09-09 | 14:00 | 22.6N 82.9W | category 1 hurricane | 70 | 965 | no US county |
| 2008-09-13 | 07:00 | 29.3N 94.7W | category 2 hurricane | 95 | 950 | Galveston County, TX (4.1 km) |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Ike (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Ike was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane that caused extensive damage and many deaths across portions of the Caribbean and along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.”
“It reached its peak intensity as a Category 4 hurricane (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale) over the open waters of the central Atlantic, directly impacting the Turks and Caicos Islands and Great Inagua Island in the southeastern Bahamas before affecting much of the island of Cuba.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Ike
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Ike, year of loss 2008; 45,361 paid claims; median $25,824, half of them between $6,538 (Q1) and $62,224 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $37,625, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
In 2024 dollars (CPI-U), its median paid claim, $37,625, is 48.6% above the middle value of the storm medians ($25,316).
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2008 | 45,361 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | 33,668 | $30,864 |
| Louisiana | 7,032 | $23,072 |
| Illinois | 2,427 | $8,628 |
| Missouri | 905 | $9,840 |
| Indiana | 789 | $27,162 |
| Alabama | 207 | $5,064 |
Counties with the most paid claims
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Galveston County | 48167 | 19,150 |
| Harris County | 48201 | 8,512 |
| Orange County | 48361 | 3,098 |
| Terrebonne Parish | 22109 | 1,936 |
| Cook County | 17031 | 1,577 |
| Brazoria County | 48039 | 1,165 |
| Cameron Parish | 22023 | 956 |
| Calcasieu Parish | 22019 | 953 |
| Jefferson County | 48245 | 916 |
| Vermilion Parish | 22113 | 841 |
Questions about Hurricane Ike flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Ike?
45,361 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Ike event label were paid (event: Hurricane Ike, year of loss 2008), with a median of $25,824; half of them fall between $6,538 and $62,224. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Ike flood claims?
Galveston County, TX (19,150), Harris County, TX (8,512) and Orange County, TX (3,098), across 6 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Ike flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$37,625 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $25,824 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Ike 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 Ike" with yearOfLoss 2008; 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).