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Kankakee County, IL flood insurance claims history

695 National Flood Insurance Program claims have been filed for flood losses in Kankakee County since 1978, and FEMA has paid out $10.2M on them. The worst year was 2008 with 118 claims. Kankakee County ranks #15 of 101 in Illinois by claim count.

At a glance

  • 20% of claims came from buildings outside FEMA’s high-risk flood zones (B, C or X), where lenders usually do not require flood insurance.
  • Flood claims were filed in 7 of the last 10 years.
  • More flood claims than 86% of the 101 Illinois counties with any claims on file — and more than 3 of its 5 neighbors.
  • ZIP 60901 has the most claims in the county (321, 46%). Check your ZIP →
NFIP claims
695
1978 – 2024
Total paid
$10.2M
nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted
Claims paid
81%
566 received a payment
Average payout
$18K
per paid claim
Last 10 years
164
claims 2015 – 2024
Most recent loss
2024-01-26
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: 118 claims in 2008

Claims by year of loss, 1978–2024. Spikes line up with named storms and major rain events; quiet years still see claims from local flash flooding.

Biggest flood events in Kankakee County

Flood event (FEMA name)ClaimsPaidAvg / claimYear
Flooding (FEMA general label)52$244K$5K1985
Hurricane Ike34$600K$18K2008
Flooding (FEMA general label)8$22K$3K1981
Early winter storms6$34K$6K2015
Flooding (FEMA general label)5$7K$1K1982
Flooding (FEMA general label)5$50K$10K1996
Flooding (FEMA general label)4$49K$12K1997
Flooding (FEMA general label)3$29K$10K1990
Mid-spring storms1$2K$2K2013

17% of claims here fall under these 9 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: 520 (75%)Coastal high-risk V zones: 0 (0%)Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X): 132 (19%)Zone not recorded: 43 (6%)
Flood zone at ratingClaimsPaidAvg / claim
High-risk A zones (A, AE, AH, AO, A1–A30, AR)520$8.7M$17K
Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X)132$1.3M$10K
Zone not recorded43$261K$6K

What caused the flooding

Cause of damage (as coded by FEMA)ClaimsShare
Stream, river or lake overflow32046%
Accumulation of rainfall or snowmelt22032%
Tidal water overflow (storm surge)12618%
Other causes223%
Not recorded61%
Alluvial fan overflow10%

Flood claims by ZIP code in Kankakee County

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

60901321$6.3M46%332024
60954245$2.5M35%272020
6091047$619K7%92018
6096428$464K4%82018
6091414$39K2%112010
6091513$53K2%102015
Not reported9$45K1%31985
609507$12K1%52013
604683$28K0%22008
609403$40K0%32019
609222$145K0%22018
609042$9K0%21982
607011$16K0%11979

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

When does Kankakee County flood?

February accounts for the most flood losses (181 claims, 26%). Claims by month of loss:

MonthClaimsShare
January11917%
February18126%
March13119%
April132%
May314%
June10014%
July172%
August112%
September406%
October10%
November91%
December426%

Year-by-year detail

Year of lossClaimsPaid
20241$101K
20211$0
20202$42K
20191$5K
201884$4.0M
20162$2K
201573$1.5M
20148$99K
20132$5K
20121$361
20103$9K
200925$192K
2008118$2.3M
20078$65K
20065$5K
200531$345K
20043$4K
20032$8K
200213$71K
20012$2K
20004$6K
199911$79K
19985$36K
19978$93K
199611$129K
19944$0
19936$22K
19919$797
199035$100K
19891$4K
19881$2K
19872$752
19861$9K
198553$244K
198410$18K
19833$855
198238$67K
198122$42K
197985$595K
19781$2K

Neighboring counties

Kankakee County borders 5 areas we cover. Flood risk does not stop at a county line, so it is worth comparing.

NeighborClaimsPaidOutside high-risk
Kankakee County (this page)695$10.2M20%
Will County2,295$21.1M23%
Iroquois County840$16.9M5%
Grundy County333$6.4M16%
Livingston County282$2.0M5%
Ford County2$4K100%

All 101 Illinois counties → · County and ZIP rankings →

Common questions about flooding in Kankakee County

Has Kankakee County flooded recently?
Yes — the most recent flood loss with an insurance claim on file was on 2024-01-26, and claims were filed in 7 of the last 10 years (164 claims from 2015 to 2024). 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 20% of Kankakee 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 17091, 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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