Natural hazards · Harlem Heights

Harlem Heights, FL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Harlem Heights comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 99 claims here since 1995. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Harlem Heights?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Harlem Heights to be higher than in 88% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and inland flooding.

Hurricanes77%Inland flooding17%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Harlem Heights faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Hurricanes

77% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Inland flooding

17% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 29% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesHailCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Ice stormsWinter weatherDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Harlem Heights flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Harlem Heights, from FEMA’s records.

99paid claims since 1995

$5.9Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19952026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Ian: 76 claims, $5.0M
Hurricane Milton: 12 claims, $502K
Hurricane Irma: 5 claims, $150K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Harlem Heights isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Lee County.

Disasters that hit Harlem Heights

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Harlem Heights itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Harlem Heights.

Brought FEMA money into Harlem HeightsDeclared for Lee County only

2017

Hurricane Irma

1 household applied for aid $1K aid approved

Lee County has had 38 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and fires.

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Harlem Heights covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Harlem Heights’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Harlem Heights. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Harlem Heights total about $1.9M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.