129 flood insurance claims·$815,060 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 Etowah 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 driven by heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Etowah County, accounting for 26 events over the last 30 years alongside 9 general flood events, 4 tropical storms, and 2 tropical depressions. Recent damaging events include a multi-day severe weather outbreak in May 2023 driven by a stalled frontal boundary, and slow-moving thunderstorm clusters that dropped heavy rainfall across the area in June 2022.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims spanning multiple zones, indicating flood risk extends beyond designated high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for the highest claim volume with 68 claims averaging a $9,134 payout and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties in unshaded Zone X recorded 22 claims averaging an $11,400 payout with an average water depth of 3 inches, while standard Zone X properties recorded 12 claims averaging an $11,693 payout with an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone X shaded properties recorded 4 claims averaging a $7,570 payout with an average water depth of 12 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within high-risk Zone A, as well as properties situated in moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas where historical claims demonstrate that significant localized flooding still occurs.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
27% of Etowah County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
96 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 4 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 2004, with 19 claims and $230,819 paid, the year of Hurricane Ivan.
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.
14 NOAA storm reports from Etowah County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alabama flood stories →
29 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 5 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 Tornadoes | Mar 19, 2018 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 28, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 27, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 15, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
41 since 1996: 26 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 1, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 18, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 7, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 31, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 29, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 12, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Aug 1, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 1, 2024. A shortwave trough approaching the Mississippi Valley from the central Great Plains, along with a surface low in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico and stationary boundary along the Gulf Coast, contributed to widespread showers moving across Central Alabama during the morning hours of March 1. A ridge located over the East Coast promoted easterly surface winds across the area, with temperatures in the upper 40s to lo…
Flash Flood · May 18, 2023. A multi-day severe weather event unfolded across Central Alabama from May 16th through May 18th, 2023. An active northwest flow pattern coupled with a stalled out surface frontal boundary provided the ingredients necessary for strong to severe thunderstorms to develop during the heating of the day.
Flash Flood · Jun 7, 2022. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms occurred across North Central Alabama from the afternoon of June 7th through the evening of June 8th. The activity was the result several upper-level disturbances moving over a slow moving surface front. Some storms were strong to severe at times with damaging wind gusts, as well as large hail. Many of these thunderstorms went on to evolve into clusters that were slow mo…
Flash Flood · Mar 31, 2021. A warm front moved pushed northward into north Central Alabama late on March 30th and into the early morning hours on March 31st. A low pressure area developed along the warm front and tracked from west to east across northern Alabama. This feature pooled instability just south of the front and added just enough shear for some rotating and organized storms. Subsequently, three weak and short-lived tornadoes devel…
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 Etowah 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.