Providence Methodist Church · Photo: Ammodramus · CC0Storms, floods and disasters in Santee
Santee isn’t graded for hazard risk: FEMA’s tract figures aren’t matched to Santee yet.
What Santee faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
River and rain flooding
Earthquakes
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. In FEMA’s terms, river and rain flooding is FEMA’s “Inland Flooding” (rivers and streams overflowing their banks, or rain overwhelming drainage). 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 Santee flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Santee. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Santee isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Orangeburg County.4 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Santee
Disasters that paid out in Santee itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Santee), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2024Hurricane Helene425 households applied for aid$1.3M aid approved
- 2020Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds56 households applied for aid$128K aid approved
- 2016Hurricane Matthew125 households applied for aid$76K aid approved
- 2015Severe Storms and Flooding538 households applied for aid$161K aid approved
Orangeburg County has had 20 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then severe storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Old photos of Santee after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Santee archive →Get ready for what Santee 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.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- 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 Santee
Is Santee 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 Orangeburg County, 21% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.5% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Santee?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Santee’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
What was the biggest storm in Santee?
By FEMA money that reached Santee, Hurricane Helene (2024): 425 households applied for aid, $1.3M approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Santee.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Santee’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.