107 flood insurance claims·$2.1M paid·8 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 Talladega 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 severe weather and summer thunderstorms dominates the flood history of Talladega County. Over the past 30 years, NOAA records show 32 flash flood events, alongside 8 general flood events, 5 tropical storm events, and 2 tropical depression events. Recent recorded incidents include severe weather and isolated flooding in March 2025, slow-moving thunderstorms that produced localized flooding in June 2022, and summertime storms in July 2023 that resulted in localized flooding alongside lightning injuries.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend beyond high-risk areas. Properties located in Zone A account for 64 claims with an average payout of $29,582 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X account for 29 claims with an average payout of $37,402 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, and unshaded Zone X properties average a payout of $54,200 with an average water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties situated in designated high-risk Zone A, where average flood depths and claim frequencies are highest, as well as properties in Zone X locations where lower-frequency events have still resulted in significant average payouts.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Talladega County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
68 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 2013, with 13 claims and $332,021 paid.
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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Talladega County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alabama flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 22, 2024 |
| Hurricane Zeta | Oct 28, 2020 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Hurricane Nate | Oct 6, 2017 |
| Hurricane Irma | Sep 8, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 27, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 15, 2011 |
| Hurricane Gustav | Aug 29, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
47 since 1996: 32 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Mar 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 9, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 22, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 8, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 29, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Feb 22, 2019 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 11, 2017 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Mar 15, 2025. A significant severe weather event unfolded across Central Alabama on March 15, with 15 tornadoes, several instances of straight-line wind damage, and isolated flooding. An initial round of storms during the early morning brought reports of large hail in Pickens and Walker counties, followed by an afternoon round with several strong, long-track tornadoes. Of the 15 tornadoes, five were rated EF-2 and two were EF-3…
Flash Flood · May 9, 2024. An upper-level shortwave moving southward across the South along with an associated surface cold front instigated an outbreak of severe weather across Tennessee and North Alabama. This activity reached Central Alabama by the morning of May 9 in the form of a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) which affected portions of the state east of I-65 with numerous reports of tree damage. A second wave of activity during the…
Flash Flood · Jul 9, 2023. Typical summertime thunderstorms produced some minor wind damage, localized flooding, and two injuries due to lightning.
Flash Flood · Mar 22, 2022. Several supercell thunderstorms developed ahead of a QLCS in advance of a cold front. One supercell produced three weak tornadoes, with another QLCS producing a weak tornado. Training thunderstorms resulted in many instances of flash flooding and river flooding, with three flash flood fatalities occurring in Tuscaloosa County.
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 Talladega 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.