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Flood history / Florida / ZIP 34972

ZIP 34972
Okeechobee County, FL

Paid claims1721994–2025
Total paid$1.3M$8K average
Heaviest year200460 claims
Outside high-risk zone13%of claims with a rated zone

Property owners in ZIP 34972 have been paid $1.3M on 172 National Flood Insurance Program claims between 1994 and 2025 — an average of $8K a claim, across 17 separate years in which someone here filed and was paid.

The heaviest year

2004 is the heaviest year on file: 60 paid claims, 34.9% of the ZIP's total. That one year accounts for more than a quarter of the ZIP's entire record. The largest named event in the record is Hurricane Frances, with 32 claims.

18 of those claims — 10.5% — were filed since 2017. The bulk of this ZIP's record is older than that.

Named eventPaid claimsShare of record
Hurricane Frances3218.6%
Tropical Storm Fay3118.0%
Hurricane Wilma2916.9%

Where the claims sat on the map

Of the 172 claims here that record a rated flood zone, 22 — 12.8% — were on properties rated outside the mapped high-risk area, in a B, C or X zone. Claims here concentrate inside the mapped high-risk area, which is what the maps intend. Flood insurance is not required outside the high-risk zone, and most properties there do not carry it — so these counts come from the minority who did.

The water near this ZIP

The closest gauges publishing official flood thresholds are C-41 Canal at SR 70 Near Brighton (25.8 mi), Indian River at Wabasso (in MHHW) (35.1 mi) and Indian River near Binney Dock at Ft Pierce Inlet (in MHHW) (37.3 mi). A gauge describes one point on one river — it will not see street drainage, sewer backup, storm surge or flash flooding.

Read current gauge conditions for 34972 →

What this does not say

These are paid National Flood Insurance Program claims, nothing more. They count insured properties whose owners filed and were paid, so they are a floor on how often this ZIP has flooded — never a measure of how likely it is to flood next. Uninsured flooding leaves no trace here at all.

The figures are aggregates published by FEMA. No individual claim, address or policyholder appears on this page or in the data behind it. Nothing here is a forecast, a warning, or advice about insurance.

Other Florida ZIP codes on file

  • 34974 Okeechobee County · 169 claims
  • 33908 Lee County · 8,401 claims
  • 33040 Monroe County · 8,242 claims
  • 33703 Pinellas County · 7,742 claims
  • 33931 Lee County · 7,645 claims
  • 33708 Pinellas County · 7,626 claims
  • 32561 Escambia County · 7,461 claims
  • 33706 Pinellas County · 7,272 claims

All Florida ZIP codes →