FEMA flood zones · Alaska

Kusilvak Census Area, Alaska Flood Zone Map

1 federal flood & hurricane disasters

In their words

3 NOAA storm reports from Kusilvak Census Area describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Alaska flood stories →

Federal disasters

2 federal disaster declarations since 2020, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.

DisasterBegan
FloodingMay 12, 2023

Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.

Recorded flood events

3 since 1996: 3 coastal floods or surges.

EventDateDamage
Coastal FloodOct 12, 2025$100,000
Coastal FloodOct 7, 2025$5,000
Coastal FloodOct 20, 2024—

— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

From the storm reports

Coastal Flood · Oct 12, 2025. Ex-Typhoon Halong brought high winds and severe coastal flooding to the West Coast of Alaska from October 11th to 13th. The storm caused severe coastal flooding in the Kuskokwim River Delta and high water levels extending north to the Yukon River Delta. These coastal areas all reported high wind gusts near or upwards of 70 to 80 mph. Inland areas as well as the Eastern Norton Sound saw impacts from damaging winds,…

Coastal Flood · Oct 7, 2025. A low pressure system over the Western Aleutian Islands moved into the central Bering Sea the night of Sunday, October 6th, rapidly intensifying into a strong coastal storm. This system caused widespread significant flooding and coastal erosion across the Yukon Delta, Seward Peninsula, and Kotzebue Sound coastlines. Additionally, widespread gusty winds were felt across the Yukon Delta, St. Lawrence Island, Bering…

Coastal Flood · Oct 20, 2024. A major fall storm quickly pushed across northern Alaska between October 20th and 23rd, with the low itself moving all the way inland. The storm brought coastal flooding, high winds, heavy precipitation, and a mix of precipitation, including a rain-snow mix and freezing rain. Over higher elevations in the Brooks Range, snow amounts approached 2 feet, with 12 to 15 inches across the higher elevation Interior regi…

National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

The zones you’ll see on the map

Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.

Cross-section of a river floodplainDiagram: a river valley. The floodway is the channel and the land beside it; the 1%-annual-chance flood surface (the base flood elevation) covers the valley floor as zone A or AE; a narrow band higher up is shaded X, the 0.2% floodplain; higher ground is X.0.2% CHANCE A YEAR (500-YEAR)BASE FLOOD ELEVATION · 1% A YEARXAEFloodwayAEX
  1. A / AE Inside the 1%-a-year floodplain: about a 26% chance of flooding over a 30-year mortgage. AE has a mapped base flood elevation; plain A does not.
  2. Floodway The channel and the land beside it that has to be kept clear enough to carry the flood. Building here is tightly limited.
  3. X shaded The 0.2% (500-year) floodplain, plus some levee-protected and very shallow flood areas.
  4. X Outside both lines. No federal requirement to insure, which is not the same as no risk.

Every flood zone code explained →

Flood insurance in Kusilvak Census Area

If a building in Kusilvak Census Area 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.