Hurricane Isaias
NFIP flood claims
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $5,079 in North Carolina to $18,718 in Pennsylvania.
- By paid claims (2,100), Hurricane Isaias is the 18th lowest of 42 named storms covered here, and the 5th lowest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
- Pennsylvania holds 44.7% of the storm’s paid claims and North Carolina 33.5%; 3 states are listed.
- In 2024 dollars (CPI-U), its median paid claim, $13,895, is 45.1% below the middle value of the storm medians ($25,316).
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 Isaias (AL092020, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 4 landfalls, 1 of them in or near a US county. It came on 2020-08-04 at 03:10 UTC, as a category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 80 kt: HURDAT2 position 33.9N 78.5W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: Brunswick County, NC.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-07-30 | 16:15 | 18.4N 69.3W | tropical storm | 55 | 1,002 | no US county |
| 2020-07-31 | 09:00 | 20.9N 73.4W | category 1 hurricane | 70 | 990 | no US county |
| 2020-08-01 | 13:00 | 24.4N 77.7W | category 1 hurricane | 70 | 989 | no US county |
| 2020-08-04 | 03:10 | 33.9N 78.5W | category 1 hurricane | 80 | 986 | Brunswick County, NC |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Isaias (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Isaias was a hurricane that formed in the eastern Caribbean Sea.”
“The storm affected the Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba, the Bahamas, and a large portion of the eastern United States.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Isaias
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Isaias, year of loss 2020; 2,100 paid claims; median $11,464, half of them between $3,982 (Q1) and $27,992 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $13,895, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2020 | 2,100 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 938 | $18,718 |
| North Carolina | 703 | $5,079 |
| South Carolina | 294 | $10,942 |
Counties with the most paid claims
The storm’s paid claims are spread over many counties: the first, Brunswick County, NC, holds 29.3% of them, ahead of Horry County, SC and Philadelphia County, PA.
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Brunswick County | 37019 | 615 |
| Horry County | 45051 | 239 |
| Philadelphia County | 42101 | 236 |
| Delaware County | 42045 | 205 |
| Montgomery County | 42091 | 204 |
Questions about Hurricane Isaias flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Isaias?
2,100 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Isaias event label were paid (event: Hurricane Isaias, year of loss 2020), with a median of $11,464; half of them fall between $3,982 and $27,992. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Isaias flood claims?
Brunswick County, NC (615), Horry County, SC (239) and Philadelphia County, PA (236), across 3 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Isaias flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$13,895 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $11,464 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Isaias 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 Isaias" with yearOfLoss 2020; 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).