34 flood insurance claims·$694,851 paid·5 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Barbour County, Alabama. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
Flash floods and tropical systems dominate the flood risk profile in Barbour County, supported by nine flash flood events, four tropical storm events, and two tropical depressions over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include remnants from Hurricane Sally in September 2020, which brought heavy rainfall and tropical storm force winds to southeast Alabama, and Tropical Storm Michael in October 19, 2018, which brought heavy rainfall and tropical storm warnings to the southeast portions of Central Alabama.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims filed in both high-risk and moderate-to-low-risk areas. Zone A recorded 21 claims with an average payout of $40,979 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Zone X recorded 13 claims with an average payout of $27,020 and an average recorded water depth of 17 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in both designated high-risk Zone A and moderate-to-low-risk Zone X, as both areas have experienced historical flood claims and significant recorded water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Barbour County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
21 NFIP claims with a recorded rated flood zone, 1978 to date. The zone is the one FEMA used to rate that policy, which may not match today’s map. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 5 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
The worst year was 1990, with 19 claims and $25,512 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding.
Bar height is scaled by square root so ordinary years stay visible next to the worst one. NFIP claims by year of loss. Source: OpenFEMA.
6 NOAA storm reports from Barbour County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alabama flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1975, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 22, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Jan 12, 2023 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Apr 19, 2020 |
| Hurricane Michael | Oct 10, 2018 |
| Hurricane Nate | Oct 6, 2017 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 23, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
15 since 1996: 9 flash floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Sep 14, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 16, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 10, 2018 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 11, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 24, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 14, 2009 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Dec 14, 2009 | $5,000 |
| Tropical Depression | Nov 9, 2009 | $2,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Sep 14, 2024. Hurricane Francine made landfall along the Louisiana coast during the afternoon of September 11. Downgraded to a tropical depression as it moved northward through Mississippi the next day, Francine brought gradient wind gusts of 30-40 mph to Central Alabama. Numerous trees were downed across several counties, with some falling on power lines and across roadways. One minor injury occurred in Jefferson County when a…
Flash Flood · Sep 16, 2020. Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday morning on September 16, near Gulf Shores, Alabama. Sally weakened quickly after moving inland and tracked northeast across southeast Alabama during the overnight hours on Wednesday, September 16th, and the morning hours on Thursday, September 17th.||The main impacts for Central Alabama were felt along and south of Interstate 85, where 4-8 inches of rain fell, with loc…
Tropical Storm · Oct 10, 2018. The center of Tropical Cyclone Michael come ashore as a high end category four hurricane just east of Panama City, Florida, during the early afternoon on Wednesday, October 10th. The southeast portions of Central Alabama were under a Tropical Storm warning and experienced heavy rainfall and wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph.
Tropical Storm · Sep 11, 2017. Hurricane Irma made landfall on the west coast of the Florida peninsula on September 10th. The hurricane tracked northward across Florida and weakened into a tropical storm on September 11th as it moved into southwest Georgia Tropical Storm Warnings were in effect for east central Alabama as Tropical Storm Irma approached east Alabama. Steady rains overspread the region by early morning, with breezy and gusty win…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Barbour County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.