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Bureau County, IL flood insurance claims history

73 National Flood Insurance Program claims have been filed for flood losses in Bureau County since 1978, and FEMA has paid out $244K on them. The worst year was 2013 with 19 claims. Bureau County ranks #54 of 101 in Illinois by claim count.

At a glance

  • 27% of claims came from buildings outside FEMA’s high-risk flood zones (B, C or X), where lenders usually do not require flood insurance.
  • 26% of all claims trace to a single event — Mid-spring storms (2013), which paid $91K here.
  • Flood claims were filed in 5 of the last 10 years.
  • More flood claims than 47% of the 101 Illinois counties with any claims on file — and more than 2 of its 7 neighbors.
  • ZIP 61322 has the most claims in the county (26, 36%). Check your ZIP →
NFIP claims
73
1978 – 2020
Total paid
$244K
nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted
Claims paid
73%
53 received a payment
Average payout
$5K
per paid claim
Last 10 years
29
claims 2011 – 2020
Most recent loss
2020-05-28
data as of 2026-09-07

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Pick your ZIP code to see how many insured buildings there filed flood claims, in which years, and how much was paid. Narrow by year or flood zone too. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you pick is sent anywhere.

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Flood claims by year

Peak: 19 claims in 2013

Claims by year of loss, 1978–2020. Spikes line up with named storms and major rain events; quiet years still see claims from local flash flooding.

Biggest flood events in Bureau County

Flood event (FEMA name)ClaimsPaidAvg / claimYear
Mid-spring storms19$91K$5K2013
Flooding (FEMA general label)3$1K$3751985
Flooding (FEMA general label)3$9K$3K1982
Hurricane Ike2$16K$8K2008
Flooding (FEMA general label)1$16K$16K1987

38% of claims here fall under these 5 entries. “FEMA general label” groups many separate floods under one name; the rest of the claims have no event name.

Claims by flood zone

Not sure what the zone letters mean? Flood zones explained →

High-risk A zones: 32 (44%)Coastal high-risk V zones: 0 (0%)Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X): 12 (16%)Zone not recorded: 29 (40%)
Flood zone at ratingClaimsPaidAvg / claim
High-risk A zones (A, AE, AH, AO, A1–A30, AR)32$141K$4K
Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X)12$50K$4K
Zone not recorded29$53K$2K

What caused the flooding

Cause of damage (as coded by FEMA)ClaimsShare
Accumulation of rainfall or snowmelt3649%
Stream, river or lake overflow2129%
Tidal water overflow (storm surge)1216%
Other causes34%
Erosion (pre-1995 code)11%

Flood claims by ZIP code in Bureau County

10 ZIP codes in Bureau County have at least one NFIP claim. ZIP codes can cross county lines; this table counts only claims FEMA assigned to Bureau County.

6132226$104K36%82020
6135615$61K21%92019
6131710$19K14%62013
613627$13K10%62013
613765$4K7%42011
613304$20K5%22009
613122$16K3%21987
613442$5K3%21997
613611$01%11981
613291$2K1%11978

Click a column to sort. Click a ZIP to load it in the lookup above.

When does Bureau County flood?

April accounts for the most flood losses (20 claims, 27%). Claims by month of loss:

MonthClaimsShare
January11%
February34%
March1014%
April2027%
May1115%
June57%
July34%
August710%
September68%
October23%
November11%
December45%

Year-by-year detail

Year of lossClaimsPaid
20202$6K
20192$14K
20151$1K
201319$91K
20115$12K
20101$3K
20092$6K
20085$21K
20072$1K
19971$2K
19901$15K
19881$2K
19871$16K
19853$1K
19843$8K
19832$2K
19828$22K
19812$635
197910$17K
19782$2K

Neighboring counties

Bureau County borders 7 areas we cover. Flood risk does not stop at a county line, so it is worth comparing.

NeighborClaimsPaidOutside high-risk
Bureau County (this page)73$244K27%
LaSalle County680$12.7M26%
Whiteside County287$2.3M20%
Henry County238$1.7M13%
Lee County142$730K23%
Marshall County81$737K15%
Putnam County66$1.1M22%
Stark County1$00%

All 101 Illinois counties → · County and ZIP rankings →

Common questions about flooding in Bureau County

Has Bureau County flooded recently?
Yes — the most recent flood loss with an insurance claim on file was on 2020-05-28, and claims were filed in 5 of the last 10 years (29 claims from 2011 to 2020). FEMA’s data runs to 2026-09-07, so the newest events may not appear yet.
Do I need flood insurance in a low-risk zone here?
Lenders generally require it only in high-risk A and V zones. But 27% of Bureau County’s claims came from moderate- and low-risk zones. Whether to buy coverage is your call — see flood zones explained and check your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
Can I see whether a specific house has flooded?
Not here. FEMA removes addresses before publishing, so these figures describe areas, never a property. Our guide how to check if a house has flooded lists the questions and records that can tell you about a specific home.
Why might the real number of floods be higher?
Only buildings with National Flood Insurance can file these claims, and most homes are not insured for flood. More on what the counts mean in understanding NFIP claims data.

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About these numbers

Figures are aggregated from FEMA’s OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims dataset (county FIPS 17011, data as of 2026-09-07). They cover only properties that carried National Flood Insurance — most homes do not, and private flood policies are not included — so real flood damage is larger than these counts show. Dollar amounts are as paid, in nominal dollars. Flood zone is the zone used to rate the policy at the time, which may differ from today’s map. FEMA states this dataset is not an official federal report. Use it for background, not for a purchase, insurance or legal decision; for a specific property ask the seller for its flood disclosure or the owner’s NFIP loss history.

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