7 flood insurance claims·$9,023 paid·3 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 Carroll 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 heavy rainfall dominates the flood character of Carroll County, accounting for 38 events and three deaths over the last 30 years compared to seven standard flood events and one death.
Storm history shows these threats often develop rapidly from slow-moving weather systems. For example, a slow-moving line of thunderstorms dropped two to four inches of rain and caused flash flooding on April 13, 2022. Similarly, high rainfall rates from slow-moving thunderstorm complexes caused flooding across portions of the county on June 26, 2019, and severe storms produced heavy rainfall on April 29, 2017.
Historical National Flood Insurance Program claims reflect losses in both high-risk and moderate-to-low-risk areas. Zone A recorded six claims with an average payout of $772 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Zone X_UNSHADED recorded one claim with an average payout of $5,936 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas where past claims and localized flash flood events have occurred.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Carroll County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Arkansas flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 3 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.
45 since 1996: 38 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 13, 2022 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Apr 13, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 29, 2017 | — · 1 killed |
| Flood | Dec 30, 2015 | — |
| Flood | Dec 28, 2015 | — |
| Flood | Dec 27, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 25, 2015 | — · 1 killed |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Apr 13, 2022. A line of thunderstorms developed into northwestern Arkansas during the morning of the 13th, as a cold front moved into the area. A strong thunderstorm within the line produced hail up to nickel size. More impactfully, this line of showers and thunderstorms was slow-moving, with individual cells within the line moving northeasterly repeatedly across the same areas, which resulted in locally heavy rainfall. Two to…
Flash Flood · Apr 13, 2022. A line of thunderstorms developed into northwestern Arkansas during the morning of the 13th, as a cold front moved into the area. A strong thunderstorm within the line produced hail up to nickel size. More impactfully, this line of showers and thunderstorms was slow-moving, with individual cells within the line moving northeasterly repeatedly across the same areas, which resulted in locally heavy rainfall. Two to…
Flash Flood · Jun 26, 2019. A slow moving complex of thunderstorms across southeast Kansas and southwest Missouri, gradually moved south into far northwestern Arkansas during the afternoon of the 26th. The high rainfall rates and slow movement of these storms resulted in flooding across portions of Carroll County.
Flash Flood · Apr 29, 2017. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the late evening hours of the 28th over portions of northwestern Arkansas, along and north of a warm front that had moved into the area during the day. These storms produced hail up to golfball size, damaging wind, and locally heavy rainfall through the early morning hours of the 29th. ||Another round of severe weather developed during the afternoon hours of the 29th…
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 Carroll 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.