30 flood insurance claims·$563,596 paid·6 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 Cullman 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 flooding from heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Cullman County, accounting for 80 of the 96 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 13 general floods, 2 tropical storms, and 1 tropical depression. Recent weather history underscores this hazard, including a February 2025 event involving two rounds of heavy rainfall that produced widespread river and flash flooding across northern Alabama, and a June 2025 thunderstorm band that brought heavy rainfall and reported flash flooding directly to Cullman County.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage occurs across multiple zones, with the highest claim volume concentrated in high-risk areas. Specifically, Zone A recorded 18 claims with an average payout of $23,203 and an average recorded water depth of 12 inches. Meanwhile, moderate-to-low risk areas also experienced impacts, including 9 claims in Zone X with an average payout of $32,452 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, and 2 claims in unshaded Zone X with an average payout of $5,794 and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Zone V recorded a single claim with no payout or water depth recorded.
Homeowners and real estate agents with properties located in designated Zone A, as well as those in Zone X outside of mapped high-risk areas, should pay the closest attention to flood risk given the documented history of property damage and average water depths from past events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
10% of Cullman 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 9 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 2015, with 8 claims and $216,988 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, and 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.
37 NOAA storm reports from Cullman County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alabama flood stories →
32 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 22, 2024 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Severe Thunderstorms | Apr 12, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Feb 5, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Mar 19, 2018 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 23, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 27, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
96 since 1996: 80 flash floods and 13 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 12, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 13, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 4, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 25, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Mar 18, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 29, 2025. Several clusters and small bands of thunderstorms developed during the late morning and lasted into the afternoon hours as they travelled south and southeast. On of the thunderstorms produced a lightning strike which resulted in an injury in Russellville. One of the thunderstorms knocked down a tree.||Flash flooding was also reported in Cullman County as a result of the heavy rainfall.
Flash Flood · Feb 12, 2025. Two rounds of heavy rainfall affected Northern Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee, with the first round producing widespread river flooding across the area. In addition, flash flooding occurred in several locations with the first event, and again with the second event just 48-72 hours later. While most river gage locations fell back below flood stage by the end of the week, the Tennessee River at Florence linge…
Flash Flood · Sep 13, 2024. As the remains of Tropical System Francine slowly meandered through the mid South, a persistent band of showers and thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall totals over the two day period from the 13th into the 14th. Some of the heaviest rains occurred during the evening of the 13th into the morning hours of the 14th in parts of northwest and north central Alabama. Widespread rain totals of 2 to 4 inches were o…
Flood · Feb 16, 2023. Rainfall amounts of 2.5-4 fell over the course of a few hours on the evening of February 16th. Widespread flooding occurred across portions of Cullman, Marshall, and into portions of Jackson and Dekalb Counties. Parts of I-65 were shut down, and several water rescues occurred in Cullman County that evening thanks to thunderstorms repeatedly moving across these areas in a very warm and moist airmass for mid-February.
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 Cullman 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.