1 flood insurance claims·$5,209 paid·2 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 Nevada 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 rain events dominates the local flood hazard profile, accounting for the vast majority of recorded flood incidents over the last thirty years alongside limited tropical storm activity.
Severe weather patterns driven by frontal boundaries and strong convection have produced significant localized inundation. For instance, a stationary front and intensifying low-level jet produced flash flooding on April 5, 2025. Another event occurred on December 16, 2024, when a slowly advancing cold front and southerly flow dropped rainfall rates of 1.5 to 1.75 inches per hour across the area. An earlier event was also recorded on May 5, 2022, associated with a surface low and stationary front system.
Historical NFIP claims data shows activity within Zone X, which recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $5,209 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should note that property owners situated in Zone X and those vulnerable to rapid-onset flash flooding during heavy convective storms should pay the closest attention to local weather alerts and drainage conditions.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
30 NOAA storm reports from Nevada County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Arkansas flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1979, 2 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 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 30, 2023 |
| Hurricane Laura | Aug 26, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 7, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Associated Flooding | Apr 14, 2011 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Dec 23, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
46 since 1996: 43 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 16, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 27, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 16, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 23, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 21, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 5, 2025. A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very…
Flash Flood · Dec 16, 2024. A slowly advancing cold front across Southern Arkansas continued moving southward late into the evening on December 16th. Concurrently, warm sector southerly flow provided weak but sufficient surface convergence just ahead of the cold front. Strong convection with some weak QLCS features generally trained along the boundary/deep-layer moisture interface and was fed upstream by a sector of 1000-1250 J/kg of MUCAPE.…
Flash Flood · May 5, 2022. A surface low was centered over the southern Texas Panhandle with a stationary front extending through southern Oklahoma into southern Arkansas eastward into northern Mississippi. A dry line extended southward from the surface low through west Texas into the Big Bend Country along with a cold front draped southwest from the surface low into southeast New Mexico. Aloft, an upper-level low was initially centered jus…
Flood · May 5, 2022. A surface low was centered over the southern Texas Panhandle with a stationary front extending through southern Oklahoma into southern Arkansas eastward into northern Mississippi. A dry line extended southward from the surface low through west Texas into the Big Bend Country along with a cold front draped southwest from the surface low into southeast New Mexico. Aloft, an upper-level low was initially centered jus…
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 Nevada 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.