Long Island Flood Claims, Ranked by ZIP: What FEMA's Record Since 1978 Shows

Last reviewed: July 2026. Data pulled from OpenFEMA July 2026.

TL;DR

We aggregated every NFIP flood insurance claim on record for Nassau and Suffolk counties: 85,432 claims and $3.36 billion in payments across Long Island ZIP codes. One year, 2012, accounts for 47% of every claim ever filed. Long Beach's 11561 leads the ranking, with Freeport, Massapequa, Lindenhurst, and Oceanside behind it. A claim count is flood history, not a risk score, but it is the closest public record of where the water has actually gone.

$3.36 billion

NFIP payments across Long Island ZIP codes, building and contents, nominal dollars

85,432

NFIP claims on record for Nassau and Suffolk counties

47%

Share of all claims from the 2012 loss year alone, the year of Superstorm Sandy

The 15 Long Island ZIP codes with the most flood claims

South shore Nassau dominates the top of the table. Every ZIP below sits on or near the bays, canals, and barrier islands between East Rockaway and Fire Island. ZIP boundaries do not match village lines exactly, so the place names are the USPS labels for each ZIP.

Rank	ZIP	USPS place name	Claims on record	NFIP paid	Claims from 2012
1	11561	Long Beach	9,649	$490.6 million	6,539
2	11520	Freeport	6,595	$254.0 million	2,669
3	11758	Massapequa	5,388	$296.7 million	2,721
4	11757	Lindenhurst	4,757	$165.4 million	1,976
5	11572	Oceanside	4,454	$260.4 million	2,947
6	11558	Island Park	3,412	$201.7 million	1,792
7	11702	Babylon	2,714	$131.5 million	1,271
8	11701	Amityville	2,338	$122.7 million	1,104
9	11783	Seaford	2,240	$87.1 million	1,050
10	11710	Bellmore	2,216	$79.7 million	1,163
11	11518	East Rockaway	2,204	$89.8 million	1,076
12	11510	Baldwin	2,119	$91.6 million	1,112
13	11566	Merrick	2,052	$83.1 million	1,273
14	11706	Bay Shore	2,045	$79.0 million	1,157
15	11770	Ocean Beach (Fire Island)	1,859	$92.2 million	910

Three of these ZIPs have dedicated guides: Long Beach, Freeport, and Babylon. More Long Island guides are on the way, prioritized in part by this table.

One storm owns the record

The claim record is not spread evenly across the decades since 1978. It clusters around a handful of storms, and one of them stands alone.

Loss year	Claims	Context
2012	40,442	the year of Superstorm Sandy
2011	9,487	the year of Hurricane Irene
1992	6,871	the year of the December nor'easter
2005	3,894
1991	3,586

Sandy's 2012 loss year produced 40,442 claims in the two counties, more than four times the next-largest year. The pattern matters for homeowners: flood losses on Long Island arrive in concentrated events, not as a steady drip. Years of quiet are not evidence of safety, which is one reason to read our Long Island flood insurance guide before the next event rather than after it.

How to read this data honestly

A few things this table is not. It is not a risk ranking: claim counts rise with the number of policies in force and the density of housing, so a well-insured ZIP outranks a riskier, under-insured one. It is not complete flood history: uninsured losses and private-flood claims are not in NFIP data. And the dollars are nominal, so older storms are understated against today's prices.

ZIP codes are as reported on the claim. A small share of records carries out-of-area ZIP codes, and those are excluded from the by-ZIP table.

What it is: the most complete public record of where flood insurance has actually paid out on Long Island, claim by claim, since 1978. For your own block, the map matters more than the table. Check your address at msc.fema.gov and read our flood zone guide for what the designations mean.

Source: OpenFEMA, FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims v2, all records for county codes 36059 (Nassau) and 36103 (Suffolk), pulled July 2026. FEMA updates the dataset continuously, so figures shift over time.

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Frequently asked questions

Where does this flood claims data come from?

FEMA publishes every National Flood Insurance Program claim, redacted for privacy, through its OpenFEMA program. We pulled all claims coded to Nassau and Suffolk counties in July 2026 and aggregated them by ZIP code and year. The source dataset is public: FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims v2 on fema.gov.

Does a high claim count mean a ZIP code is riskier?

Not by itself. Claim counts also reflect how many flood policies are in force and how dense the housing is. A ZIP with more insured homes files more claims than a riskier ZIP where few carry coverage. Use the count as a signal of flood history, then check your specific address on FEMA's flood map at msc.fema.gov.

Why is 2012 such a large share of the claims?

Superstorm Sandy. The 2012 loss year accounts for 40,442 of the 85,432 claims in the two-county record, about 47%. No other year comes close, which is why Sandy remains the reference event for every coastal insurance decision on Long Island.

My ZIP ranks high on this table. What should I do?

Confirm your flood zone at msc.fema.gov, then price flood coverage before you need it. Our Long Island flood insurance guide covers NFIP and private options, and the flood zone guide explains what each FEMA designation means.

Are these numbers adjusted for inflation?

No. Dollar figures are nominal NFIP payments on building and contents coverage, summed as paid. A 1992 payment is in 1992 dollars. Adjusting for inflation would push the older storm years higher, so treat the total as a floor.