Photo: US Government · Public domainStorms, floods and disasters in Harbor Island
Harbor Island isn’t graded for hazard risk: Harbor Island has 303 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Harbor Island faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Coastal flooding
Shares are of FEMA’s expected building damage, the measure the grade uses; ranks compare each hazard’s building-damage rate with all 85,154 U.S. census tracts. FEMA defines coastal flooding as high or rising tides and storm surge, so surge damage is counted there. Drought isn’t listed: FEMA counts its losses in crops only.
Does Harbor Island flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Harbor Island. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Harbor Island isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Beaufort County.The storms Harbor Island remembers
None of the 14 disasters declared for Beaufort County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Harbor Island itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Beaufort County has had 14 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then winter storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Get ready for what Harbor Island faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Know your evacuation zone and the way off the coast.
- Storm surge comes fast: leave when you’re told, not when the water arrives.
- Move cars to high ground before king tides and nor’easters.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Questions about natural hazards in Harbor Island
Is Harbor Island in a flood zone?
Flood zones are drawn street by street, so the answer depends on the address: look it up on FEMA’s flood map. In Beaufort County, 39.7% of all homes carry federal flood insurance.
How much is flood insurance in Harbor Island?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Harbor Island’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Harbor Island.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Harbor Island’s residents lived in the 2020 census; 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. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. FEMA’s model is an average of expected damage, not a forecast. How hazard risk is graded.