Hurricane Rita
NFIP flood claims
- Louisiana holds 81.8% of the storm’s paid claims and Texas 18.2%; 2 states are listed.
- By paid claims (8,887), Hurricane Rita is the 17th highest of 42 named storms covered here, and the 8th highest of 42 by median paid claim in 2024 dollars.
- Median paid claims of the storm run from $14,896 in Texas to $31,144 in Louisiana.
- In 2024 dollars (CPI-U), its median paid claim, $45,816, is 81.0% above 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 Rita (AL182005, retrieved 2026-10-12) records 1 landfall, in or near a US county. It came on 2005-09-24 at 07:40 UTC, as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 kt: HURDAT2 position 29.7N 93.7W, rounded to 0.1°; county containing or nearest it: Cameron Parish, LA.
| Date | Time (UTC) | Position | Strength | Wind (kt) | Pressure (mb) | County containing or nearest the position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-09-24 | 07:40 | 29.7N 93.7W | category 3 hurricane | 100 | 937 | Cameron Parish, LA (4.8 km) |
National Hurricane Center report
From the NHC Tropical Cyclone Report on Hurricane Rita (retrieved 2026-10-12):
“Rita was an intense hurricane that reached Category 5 strength (on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale) over the central Gulf of Mexico, where it had the fourth-lowest central pressure on record in the Atlantic basin.”
“Although it weakened prior to making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane near the Texas/Louisiana border, Rita produced significant storm surge that devastated coastal communities in southwestern Louisiana, and its winds, rain, and tornadoes caused fatalities and a wide swath of damage from eastern Texas to Alabama.”
NFIP paid building claims in Hurricane Rita
NFIP claims: amounts paid, not repair cost. Window: event: Hurricane Rita, year of loss 2005; 8,887 paid claims; median $28,524, half of them between $10,184 (Q1) and $53,900 (Q3), in nominal dollars. Median in 2024 dollars (CPI-U): $45,816, a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Paid claims by year of loss
| Year of loss | Paid claims |
|---|---|
| 2005 | 8,887 |
Paid claims by state
| State | Paid claims | Median paid |
|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 7,269 | $31,144 |
| Texas | 1,618 | $14,896 |
Counties with the most paid claims
The storm’s paid claims are spread over many counties: the first, Terrebonne Parish, LA, holds 23.1% of them, ahead of Vermilion Parish, LA and Cameron Parish, LA.
| County | FIPS | Paid claims |
|---|---|---|
| Terrebonne Parish | 22109 | 2,049 |
| Vermilion Parish | 22113 | 1,343 |
| Cameron Parish | 22023 | 1,209 |
| Jefferson County | 48245 | 1,121 |
| Iberia Parish | 22045 | 639 |
| Calcasieu Parish | 22019 | 560 |
| Jefferson Parish | 22051 | 450 |
| Orange County | 48361 | 217 |
| St. Mary Parish | 22101 | 205 |
| Orleans Parish | 22071 | 162 |
Questions about Hurricane Rita flood claims
How many flood insurance claims were paid after Hurricane Rita?
8,887 NFIP building claims carrying FEMA’s Hurricane Rita event label were paid (event: Hurricane Rita, year of loss 2005), with a median of $28,524; half of them fall between $10,184 and $53,900. These are amounts paid, not repair cost.
Which counties had the most Hurricane Rita flood claims?
Terrebonne Parish, LA (2,049), Vermilion Parish, LA (1,343) and Cameron Parish, LA (1,209), across 2 states listed.
What is the median Hurricane Rita flood claim in 2024 dollars?
$45,816 once each claim is adjusted with the CPI-U, against $28,524 in nominal dollars: a monetary adjustment, not today’s cost of repair.
Related tools
Paid claims of Hurricane Rita 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 Rita" with yearOfLoss 2005; 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).