338 flood insurance claims·$9.2M 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 Benton County, Arkansas. 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 severe storms dominates the flood risk in Benton County, Arkansas, accounting for 128 events and 8 deaths over the last 30 years compared to 14 general flood events and 2 deaths. Recent activity includes severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall events in May 2025 and July 2025, driven by upper-level disturbances, strong low-level wind shear, and slow-moving thunderstorms over stationary frontal boundaries.
National Flood Insurance Program records show significant impacts across multiple zones. Properties in high-risk Zone A recorded 213 claims with an average payout of $33,203 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X accumulated 106 claims with an average payout of $48,055 and an average recorded water depth of 12 inches. Zone X_UNSHADED properties recorded 13 claims with an average payout of $13,661 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch, while properties with an unknown zone recorded 6 claims averaging $12,836 with an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within designated Zone A and Zone X, where claims data demonstrate a history of structural water damage and substantial average payouts.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Benton County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
226 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 10 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 2017, with 57 claims and $2.9M 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.
79 NOAA storm reports from Benton County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Arkansas flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 2, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 24, 2024 |
| Hurricane Laura | Aug 26, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 26, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 26, 2015 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 8, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Associated Flooding | Apr 14, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
142 since 1996: 128 flash floods and 14 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 17, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 26, 2024 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Nov 4, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 29, 2022 | — · 2 killed |
| Flash Flood | Apr 13, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 19, 2025. Severe thunderstorms developed over central Oklahoma along and ahead of a dry line during the afternoon of the 19th, as an upper level disturbance approached the Southern Plains. These thunderstorms moved northeast off the dry line and across portions of northwestern Arkansas during the evening hours. The atmosphere east of the dry line across northwestern Arkansas became very unstable during the afternoon and eve…
Flash Flood · Jul 17, 2025. Thunderstorms developed across northwestern Arkansas during the late evening of the 17th and early morning of the 18th, as a low level jet strengthened across the area, forcing warm, moist and unstable air over a stationary frontal boundary that stretched through the region. Slow-moving thunderstorms that moved repeatedly over the same areas resulted in locally heavy rainfall and some flash flooding.
Flood · May 26, 2024. Four to five inches of rain fell across the Sugar Creek basin in northern Benton County on the 26th, most of it between the hours of midnight and 4:30 am. This heavy rainfall resulted in Little Sugar Creek flowing at dangerously high levels. Two people entered the creek for recreational purposes during the afternoon, and were drowned in the usually high and fast currents.
Flash Flood · Nov 4, 2024. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into and across northwestern Arkansas during the afternoon of the 4th, in an unseasonably moist and unstable air mass ahead of an approaching cold front. The atmosphere became very unstable ahead of the thunderstorms. The deep-layer and low-level wind shear strengthened during the afternoon, in response to a strong storm system translating into the Southern Plains from the…
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 Benton 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.