Jacksonville, FL Hurricane Risk

Jacksonville's hurricane risk is shaped by its unique geography: the St. Johns River runs through the heart of the city and flows northward before emptying into the Atlantic, creating a flooding dynamic that catches many residents off guard. Hurricane Matthew in 2016 caused record-breaking St. Johns River flooding, inundating thousands of homes in riverside neighborhoods like Ortega and Riverside days after the storm passed — as water that had pushed inland slowly drained back through the city. Hurricane Dorian in 2019 passed just offshore as a Category 1, still generating significant storm surge and wind damage across Duval and St. Johns counties. As the largest city by land area in the contiguous United States, Jacksonville's sprawl means evacuation distances are considerable, and coastal communities in the Jacksonville Beaches area face direct Atlantic exposure. Duval County's Zone A includes thousands of properties with mandatory evacuation orders during Category 2 storms and above. The combination of river flooding, storm surge, and Atlantic exposure makes Jacksonville a three-vector hurricane risk.