Natural hazards · Lehigh Acres

Lehigh Acres, FL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lehigh Acres comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 60 claims here since 1978. 9 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

How exposed is Lehigh Acres?

86
Very high
vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lehigh Acres to be higher than in 86% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and inland flooding.

Hurricanes71%Inland flooding20%Everything else9%
By hazard

What Lehigh Acres faces

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

Hurricanes

71% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places
Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Inland flooding

20% of expected damage
Below average · higher than 42% of U.S. places
Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesHailCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Ice stormsWinter weatherAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Lehigh Acres flood?

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

60paid claims since 1978
$2.0Mpaid to owners
0homes flooded more than once
19782026

Biggest named events

  • Hurricane Irma: 33 claims, $1.4M
  • Hurricane Ian: 7 claims, $154K
  • June South Florida Flooding: 1 claim, $23K
of homes in flood zones
are insured
of all homes
are insured
No community discount. Lehigh Acres 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.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2buildings retrofitted against wind
1storm safe rooms built
Disasters that hit Lehigh Acres

9 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Lehigh AcresDeclared for Lee County only
2024

Hurricane Milton

5,687 households applied for aid $1.1M aid approved
2024

Hurricane Helene

1,358 households applied for aid $703K aid approved
2022

Hurricane Ian

23,119 households applied for aid $11.2M aid approved
2017

Hurricane Irma

28,191 households applied for aid $11.0M aid approved
2008

Tropical Storm Fay

8 households applied for aid
2005

Hurricane Wilma

1,346 households applied for aid $480K aid approved
2004

Hurricane Ivan

38 households applied for aid $2K aid approved
2004

Hurricane Frances

128 households applied for aid $84K aid approved
2004

Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley

774 households applied for aid $306K aid approved
Lee County has had 38 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and fires.
Around Lehigh Acres

Lehigh Acres and the towns around it

Buckingham: Very high, mostly hurricanesAlva: Very high, mostly hurricanesFort Myers: Very high, mostly hurricanesVerandah: Very high, mostly hurricanesOlga: Very high, mostly hurricanesTice: Very high, mostly hurricanesGateway: Very high, mostly hurricanesWhiskey Creek: Very high, mostly hurricanesPine Manor: Very high, mostly hurricanesNorth Fort Myers: Very high, mostly hurricanesCape Coral: Very high, mostly hurricanesLochmoor Waterway Estates: Very high, mostly hurricanesMcGregor: Very high, mostly hurricanesLehigh Acres: Very high, mostly hurricanes Lehigh AcresBuckinghamAlvaFort Myers
Very lowLowModerateHighVery high
Alvamostly hurricanesVery high
Buckinghammostly hurricanesVery high
Lehigh Acresmostly hurricanesVery high
Fort Myersmostly hurricanesVery high
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. Lehigh Acres covers 28 census tracts, combined by population.
Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Lehigh Acres’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Lehigh Acres. 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 Lehigh Acres total about $34.3M 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.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/19 · 2025-01-01