The Long Island Flood Zone Map: Where the Water Has Actually Gone
Last reviewed: July 2026. Claims data from OpenFEMA, pulled July 2026.
TL;DR
Enter your ZIP code below. The map colors Long Island's ZIP areas by their NFIP flood claims on record since 1978, from FEMA's own claims data, and can overlay FEMA's official flood zone layer. Click your ZIP for its numbers and your next step. Claim counts are flood history, not a risk score, and your property's actual zone determination always comes from FEMA's address lookup, not from any map at ZIP scale.
Darker blue means more NFIP flood claims on record for that ZIP since 1978, per FEMA claims data. Click a ZIP or search yours. Claim counts are flood history, not a risk score.
How to read this map
Darker blue means more NFIP flood insurance claims on record for that ZIP, from our aggregation of all 85,432 Nassau and Suffolk claims in FEMA's public claims dataset. The pattern is unmistakable: the 15 ZIPs with the most claims all sit along the south shore bays, canals, and barrier islands, and together they hold about 64 percent of the island's mapped claims. Even Ocean Beach on Fire Island, ZIP 11770, ranks in that top 15. The full numbers are in our ranked flood-claims table.
Two honest caveats. A claim count is not a risk score: ZIPs with more flood policies and denser housing file more claims than riskier but under-insured areas. And ZIP-shaped polygons are approximations: they follow Census ZCTA boundaries, which do not match village lines, and the geometry is simplified for display.
The flood-zone overlay is FEMA's own National Flood Hazard Layer, rendered live from FEMA's servers. It shows zone patterns at neighborhood scale. For your property's actual designation, use FEMA's address lookup at msc.fema.gov. Zone lines run block by block and change when FEMA revises its maps, so no ZIP-level map, including this one, can tell you your zone.
What the FEMA zones mean
| Zone | Risk level | Flood insurance required? | Long Island examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| VE | Highest: coastal wave action | Yes, with a federally backed mortgage | Long Beach, where our 2026 NFHL query maps VE as a dominant zone |
| AE | High: 1% annual flood chance | Yes, with a federally backed mortgage | Long Beach; Freeport, where high-risk zones concentrate toward the bay and canals |
| X (shaded) | Moderate: 0.2% annual chance | No | Toggle the zone layer above to see these bands |
| X (unshaded) | Minimal | No | Areas outside the mapped high-risk zones |
Zone designations drive whether your lender requires flood insurance and how NFIP rates your property. Our flood insurance guide covers NFIP vs. private options, and the hurricane deductible guide covers the wind side of the same storm.
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