Does Cottage Hill flood?

Cottage Hill, Mobile, AL · ZIP codes 36609 and 36693: the ZIP codes on most of the flood insurance claims counted here. ZIP codes do not follow neighborhood lines.

Yes. Insured properties in and around Cottage Hill have filed flood claims. About 1.1% of Cottage Hill’s mapped area is inside FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area; the rest is in moderate or minimal-hazard Zone X. NFIP flood insurance records list 75 claims from the Census block groups that cover Cottage Hill, from 1979 through 2015. 62 of them received a payment, totaling $928,486 (not adjusted for inflation). The busiest years were 1979 (19 claims), 1998 (11 claims), 1981 (11 claims).

What this page counts as Cottage Hill

We could not find an openly licensed official boundary for Cottage Hill, so this page uses a census-based area. For this page, Cottage Hill means the 2010 Census block groups whose center lies within 1.6 km (1.0 miles) of the U.S. Geological Survey (GNIS) map point for Cottage Hill (feature 116675), each block group going to the nearest of the places we cover. Every number below is for exactly those block groups (listed in “How these numbers were made”), so the edges are approximate and may include or leave out a few blocks people would call Cottage Hill. Sources: U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, 2010 Census Block Groups and U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) domestic names.

Past claims do not predict future flooding, and a neighborhood figure cannot tell you about one building. Look up the exact address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and get flood insurance quotes before you sign a lease or a contract.

Check a specific address in Cottage Hill

Neighborhood figures are averages. Our address check looks up the FEMA flood zone at one address, from the same public maps: check if your address is in a flood zone.

Flood zones street by street in Cottage Hill

The named streets in Cottage Hill, longest first, with how much of each street’s length inside Cottage Hill lies in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones (the Special Flood Hazard Area, zones A and V). Length is the part inside Cottage Hill; the main zone is the FEMA zone covering most of that length. A street can cross several zones, so the zone at one address can differ from the street’s main zone: check the address above for that. 79 shorter streets are not listed.

Streets: U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, Transportation (primary, secondary and local roads). Flood zones: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels, retrieved October 25, 2026. Each street is clipped to the area boundary and measured in an equal-area projection. Street lengths are rounded.

Flood zones in Cottage Hill

Share of Cottage Hill’s mapped area (about 6.441 km²) in each FEMA flood zone, from FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels. Effective date of the FIRM panel(s) covering it (01097C0541L, 01097C0542L, 01097C0543L, 01097C0544L, 01097C0561L, 01097C0563L): June 5, 2020.

What the zones mean

Zone AE (and A, AH, AO)

High-risk: part of the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the area FEMA maps as having a 1-percent chance of flooding in any given year (the “100-year” or base flood). AE areas have a mapped base flood elevation.

Zone VE (and V)

High-risk coastal areas, also in the SFHA, where the base flood is expected to bring additional hazards from storm waves.

Zone X (shaded)

Moderate hazard: between the limits of the 1-percent and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (“500-year”) flood.

Zone X (unshaded)

Minimal hazard: outside the SFHA and higher than the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood elevation. Minimal is not zero: flood claims are filed from X zones too.

Source: FEMA Glossary: Flood Zones.

Flood insurance claims over time

Claims filed under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) from the 2010 Census block groups that cover Cottage Hill. This area is made of whole block groups, so every claim counted here comes from inside it. Only insured properties appear, so these counts understate total flooding.

By decade

By year of loss

Named flood events with the most claims

• Flooding: 21 claims
• Hurricane Frederic: 19 claims
• Mid-spring storms: 3 claims
• Hurricane Elena: 2 claims
• Hurricane Georges: 1 claims

FEMA labels some events only as “Flooding”. Claims by the flood zone the property was rated in:

• X/B/C (moderate or minimal): 52
• A/AE/AH/AO (high risk): 10
• V/VE (coastal high hazard): 9
• Other (D): 3
• Not reported: 1

Insurance agency or real estate agent? Sponsor this page.

Before you rent or buy in Cottage Hill

• Look up the exact address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center; a neighborhood can mix high-risk and minimal-hazard zones.
• Ask the landlord or seller about past flooding and flood insurance claims at the property.
• Get a flood insurance quote early: new NFIP policies usually take 30 days to start (FloodSmart (NFIP): Buy a Flood Insurance Policy).
• Ask which floor the unit is on and where parking, storage and mechanical equipment sit.

Living in Cottage Hill

Flood maps are only one part of choosing a neighborhood. To compare Cottage Hill with other Mobile neighborhoods on more than flooding, see Mobile on StrollPlace.

Buyer and renter FAQ

FAQ sources: FloodSmart (NFIP): Buy a Flood Insurance Policy; FEMA Fact Sheet: Think you don’t need flood insurance? Think again (Jan. 21, 2025); 44 CFR 61.11, Effective date and time of coverage.

Nearby neighborhoods

• Does Crestview flood?
• Does Belvedere flood?
• Does El Monte flood?
• Spring Valley
• Does Jackson Heights flood?
• Does Bridlewood flood?

How these numbers were made

Area: the census-based definition above, using U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, 2010 Census Block Groups and U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) domestic names. Flood zone shares: the area polygon intersected with FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels, area computed in an equal-area projection; retrieved October 25, 2026. Claims: OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3 records for Mobile County (county code 01097), dataset as of September 8, 2026, retrieved October 25, 2026. Claims are counted for exactly the block groups that make up the area. Block groups used: 010970031003, 010970032021, 010970031002, 010970032052. Neighboring pages can share a block group, so their counts can overlap. Paid totals add building, contents and Increased Cost of Compliance payments and are not adjusted for inflation; a claim whose FEMA record shows a negative payment (an adjustment) counts as zero. See the methodology.

Sources

1. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), FEMA OpenFEMA Dataset: FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims - v3. Retrieved on October 25, 2026.
2. FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels. Retrieved on October 25, 2026.
3. U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, 2010 Census Block Groups and U.S. Geological Survey, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) domestic names.
4. FEMA Glossary: Flood Zones.
5. FloodSmart (NFIP): Buy a Flood Insurance Policy.
6. FEMA Fact Sheet: Think you don’t need flood insurance? Think again (Jan. 21, 2025).
7. 44 CFR 61.11, Effective date and time of coverage.
8. OpenFEMA Terms and Conditions.
9. U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, Transportation (primary, secondary and local roads).

Data as of September 8, 2026 (FEMA claims) and October 25, 2026 (flood zones). Page last updated October 25, 2026.