Updated May 2026
Flood Risk in Orleans, LA
Orleans, LA has a Flood Risk Score of 20/100 (Grade A), ranking #185 of 3,277 counties nationwide. The risk level is Low. There have been 774 NFIP flood-insurance claims totaling $19,207,876 in payouts, with 30 federal disaster declarations on record.
Key Data
What the Grade Means Here
Orleans sits in the lowest-risk tier in the FEMA dataset — composite score 20, ranked #185 of 3,277 counties (where #1 is the riskiest). The county has logged 774 NFIP flood-insurance claims and 30 federal flood-related disaster declarations to date. An A grade does not mean zero risk: flash floods, sewer backups, and rare extreme storms can still cause loss, and FEMA reports more than 25% of all NFIP payouts originate from properties outside Special Flood Hazard Areas.
Within Louisiana, Orleans carries flood risk roughly typical of the state, where the average composite score is 24. The county ranks #46 of 65 state-internally. The full Louisiana state profile shows how every county within the state compares.
What's Driving the Risk Score?
The single biggest driver of the composite score in this county is federal disaster frequency (25% of the formula, factor score 64). For Orleans, that means the cadence of federally declared flood-related disasters dominates — large enough events to exceed state and local response capacity have repeated multiple times.
The trend factor is low (8 of 100), suggesting flood-loss volume has been stable or declining over the dataset window. This is a positive signal — the historical average remains the best estimate of forward risk.
Score Breakdown
| Factor | Score | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Claims Density | 7 | 40% |
| Disaster Frequency | 64 | 25% |
| Claim Severity | 2 | 20% |
| Year-over-Year Trend | 8 | 15% |
How This Score Is Calculated
The composite is a weighted average of four FEMA-derived factors. Source data comes from the public FEMA flood-mapping program via the OpenFEMA API. For property-level decisions, layer this with the parcel's FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map zone and recent crest readings from USGS Water Data. Full math: methodology page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the flood risk in Orleans, LA?
Orleans, LA has a Flood Risk Score of 20/100 (Grade A), ranking #185 of 3,277 counties nationwide. The risk level is Low. There have been 774 NFIP flood-insurance claims totaling $19,207,876 in payouts, with 30 federal disaster declarations on record.
Is flood insurance required in Orleans?
Federal law requires flood insurance for any property in a Special Flood Hazard Area (FEMA Zone A or V) financed by a federally regulated lender. Orleans's county-wide composite score is 20 (Grade A), which is a county aggregate — your specific parcel's flood-zone designation comes from the FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) at fema.gov/flood-maps. Even when not legally required, NFIP coverage is often available for a few hundred dollars a year in moderate- and low-risk zones, and FEMA reports more than 25% of all NFIP claims come from outside high-risk zones.
What is driving the flood risk score in Orleans?
The single biggest driver of the composite score in this county is federal disaster frequency (25% of the formula, factor score 64). For Orleans, that means the cadence of federally declared flood-related disasters dominates — large enough events to exceed state and local response capacity have repeated multiple times.
Is flood risk increasing or decreasing in Orleans?
The trend factor is low (8 of 100), suggesting flood-loss volume has been stable or declining over the dataset window. This is a positive signal — the historical average remains the best estimate of forward risk.
How does Orleans compare to other counties in Louisiana?
Within Louisiana, Orleans carries flood risk roughly typical of the state, where the average composite score is 24. The county ranks #46 of 65 state-internally.
Where does this data come from?
Every figure on this page comes from FEMA's public OpenFEMA API — the DisasterDeclarationsSummaries v2 endpoint (federally declared flood-related disasters) and the FimaNfipClaims endpoint (individual NFIP flood-insurance claims aggregated by county FIPS code). Both are public-domain U.S. government work. Real-time stream-gauge readings that complement these federal aggregates live at USGS Water Data. Last updated 2026-05-16.
Orleans, LA has a Flood Risk Score of 20/100 (Grade A), ranking #185 of 3,277 counties nationwide. The risk level is Low. There have been 774 NFIP flood-insurance claims totaling $19,207,876 in payouts, with 30 federal disaster declarations on record.
This answer pulls from FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims, the authoritative federal source for U.S. flood risk, NFIP claims, and disaster declarations. The headline number above is the direct answer; what follows is the additional context most readers need to use the answer for a real decision rather than just a fact lookup.
For readers turning this answer into action: cross-reference against the underlying FEMA OpenFEMA datasets including the National Flood Hazard Layer and NFIP claims record before acting on time-sensitive decisions. The site renders the data as it was published; subsequent revisions can shift the picture, and the live federal data is always the authoritative current reference.