Where does it flood the least in Florida?

Florida is nicknamed “the Sunshine State,” which holds true 60-70% of the time. The peninsula is flanked by the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and traversed by over 11,000 miles of rivers and waterways. It’s also home to two vast wetlands, the Everglades, and the Okefenokee Swamp. With all that water around, you might wonder if there’s anywhere in Florida that you can bask in the mild climate without stressing over flooding potential.

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Is There a Lot of Flooding in Florida?
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Rest assured! You can enjoy this sunny state without worrying about flooding in these seven cities in Florida.

Orlando

Home to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, and other entertainment parks, Orlando is the largest city on the list. It sits near the center of the peninsula, about halfway between the two coastlines and a third of the way down the north-south axis.

Kissimmee

A little southeast of Orlando is the city of Kissimmee. Although the city nestles up to Lake Tohopekaliga (Toho, for short), Kissimmee is on our no-flood list. According to the Kissimmee Public Works website, most “flooding” in the city results from water puddling in lower spots and overflowing ditches. Rainfall simply overwhelms the stormwater drainage system. However, these incidents occur and disperse quickly.

Ocala

Ocala is located inland, about 75 miles from the nearest beach, and is the jumping-off point for the huge Ocala National Forest to the east. Silver Springs, an iconic, clear water spring, is a nearby tourist attraction.

Lake City

Lake City sits in the north-central part of Florida, just 61 miles west of Jacksonville and about 30 miles from the Georgia state line. It abuts the Osceola Wildlife Management Area and is the county seat of Columbia County. The city’s elevation is at 104 feet above sea level.

Palatka

Palatka is south of Jacksonville and east of Gainesville along the St. John’s River. While flooding isn’t out of the realm of possibility, for most of the Palatka city limits, the risk is very minimal. According to the FEMA Flood Maps, the areas with higher chances of flooding—1%–sit outside the city along undeveloped portions of the river.

Gainesville

Home to the University of Florida, Gainesville is in central Florida along I-75. At 177 feet about sea level and without any large bodies of water nearby, Gainesville is at minimal risk for flooding. Significant rainfall in a short amount of time can cause some streets to flood temporarily, but major, widespread flooding isn’t typical.

Marianna

Marianna, Florida is a small city nicknamed “the City of Southern Charm.” Located about 65 miles west of Tallahassee and 20 miles from the Alabama state line in the Florida panhandle, Marianna clocks in at 167 feet above sea level. Flooding here is virtually nonexistent. Along the Chipola River, which skirts the city limits, FEMA estimates a 1% chance of flooding, but none is shown in Marianna itself.

Is There a Lot of Flooding in Florida?

Florida has so much flooding that it is considered the most flood-prone state in the U.S. The primary reasons for flooding in Florida are a combination of these factors:

Flat terrain at or near sea level
Annual average rainfall of almost 60”
Subtropical humid climate
Large bodies of water nearby, including lakes, wetlands, and an ocean and gulf
High levels of groundwater
Year-round thunderstorms and tropical storms with hurricanes the biggest worry in late summer/early fall

While it might seem like there’s no escape from the flooding that often follows these routine and catastrophic weather patterns. In Florida, that sweet spot occurs in the North Central area bordered by I-10, I-75, I-4, and I-95. Nowhere is 100% flood-proof, but we’ve found that the cities above have minimal flooding risks.

But outside of this, you’ll find what makes Florida so attractive to visitors and residents is the easy access to more than 1700 beautiful lakes and rivers, moderate temps year-round, and miles upon miles of white sandy beaches.

Conclusion

Honestly, flooding is a coast-to-coast issue for the state of Florida. Sure, we’ve gathered a short list of six cities with minimal flood risk. These are definitely your best bet if you want that sunny Florida life without fearing rising waters constantly.

Let’s be real, though. Florida is a hurricane and tropical storm magnet. The next big catastrophic storm, in conjunction with Florida’s vast system of rivers and lakes, could affect any of these places in drastic and damaging ways. Flooding risk in these locales is historically minimal, but, in the end, Mother Nature is going to have her way.

A new interactive national flood map, developed and released by the non-profit First Street Foundation, identified cities across America that have a significantly higher degree of properties at-risk than government flood maps currently show.

The analysis found that Cape Coral, Florida has the most properties — and the largest percentage of properties — at substantial risk of flooding nationwide: more than 90,000 properties, or almost 70 percent of the city’s stockpile.

Cape Coral is a city of 200,000 on the southwest coast of Florida. So, what makes it America’s most vulnerable city when it comes to flooding? After all, the United States has 95,000 miles of shoreline and 3.5 million miles of river? It has coastal and shoreline megalopolises like New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.

Well, to start with, Cape Coral might be barely larger than Washington, D.C., but it has 400-hundred miles of canals devoted to waterfront living — more than any other city in the world. The residential lots are small and numerous and configured to put as many as possible on the waterfront.

None of this was a quirk of nature.

Cape Coral was constructed from a mangrove swamp with dredges and draglines in the 1950s. It was designed and marketed to a wide swath of America — and the world — as an opportunity to own a small slice of waterfront paradise on Florida’s southwest coast.

But it was also designed at a time when sea levels were considered to be static.

“The rate of sea level rise here is about four millimeters per year, and it’s accelerating,” James Douglass, a marine scientist at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, told Florida Flood Trends.

That means the sea is rising more than an inch every six years.

Much of Cape Coral was built about five feet above sea level and much of it is low-lying.

“You see a lot of people’s backyards at high tide that are just about wet,” Douglass said.

For now, the two major flood risks in Cape Coral are storm surge and heavy rainfall. Like many places, Cape Coral is seeing more intense rain events. It also faces a risk of more intense hurricanes in the future.

Hurricane Irma in 2017 gave Cape Coral a glancing blow. The city also took hits from Hurricanes Charley in 2004 and Donna in 1960. But there’s great concern about what a hurricane pushing a real surge might do to Cape Coral, or what might happen if a major rain event occurred, like the 50 inches of rain Hurricane Harvey dropped on Houston.

The interactive flooding map released recently, called Flood Factor, lets people look up their addresses to get a different assessment of flood risk from the maps prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Florida Flood Trends and First Street Foundation are both funded by the 2040 Foundation.

The top-20 list of cities with most properties at substantial risk of flooding includes three other Florida cities: Tampa (43,000 properties), Jacksonville (29,000 properties), and Lehigh Acres (26,000 properties).

Where is the best place in Florida to avoid hurricanes?

If you want to stay as safe as possible from hurricanes but still want to reap the benefits of being a Florida citizen, inland Florida near the northern border of Georgia is the best place to live. It is the least hurricane-prone area in Florida.

What part of Florida floods the most?

What is the lowest flood risk zone?

The areas of minimal flood hazard, which are the areas outside the SFHA and higher than the elevation of the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood, are labeled Zone C or Zone X (unshaded).

Which part of Florida is least affected by hurricanes?

Key Takeaways. North Central Florida has the fewest hurricanes because it is away from the water and has a higher elevation. If your primary concern is hurricane safety, then Lake City, FL, has the fewest hurricanes. However, it has the lowest livability score on the list.