27 flood insurance claims·$446,887 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 St. Francis 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 weather events dominates the flood risk profile in St. Francis County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 16 flash flood events and 5 general flood events, resulting in one recorded death. Recent historical examples include heavy rain and training storms that caused flash flooding on April 5, 2025, and high moisture levels from a slow-moving cold front that made roads impassable on May 9, 2024.
Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance claim records show varying impacts across different zones. Properties located in Zone A experienced 14 claims with an average payout of $38,433 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Zone X recorded 6 claims with an average payout of $13,812 and an average water depth of 4 inches, while properties with unknown zones and unshaded Zone X designations saw fewer claims and lower average payouts with average recorded water depths of 1 inch.
Homeowners and real estate agents with properties in Zone A should pay the closest attention to flood risk, as these areas account for the highest claim counts, largest payouts, and deepest average water depths during flood events.
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 4 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 2014, with 5 claims and $101,739 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.
7 NOAA storm reports from St. Francis County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Arkansas flood stories →
22 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 |
| Hurricane Laura | Aug 26, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Associated Flooding | Apr 14, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Oct 29, 2009 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 27, 2009 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 26, 2009 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 18, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
21 since 1996: 16 flash floods and 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 9, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 9, 2016 | — |
| Flood | Jan 3, 2016 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2014 | $500,000 |
| Flash Flood | Dec 21, 2013 | — |
| Flood | May 1, 2011 | $752,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 5, 2025. The front eventually sagged south back into the Mid-South during the early morning hours of April 5th. Strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in heavy rain and training storms across northern sections of the Mid-South, mainly north of I-40. A bow echo developed along and just south of the slowly advancing front. This feature crossed the entire forecast area producing 13 tornadoes, inclu…
Flash Flood · May 9, 2024. A cold front that initiated convection on May 8th continued into the overnight hours of May 9th. Enough instability and precipitable water values were above climatology and resulted in locally heavy rainfall making some roads impassable.
Flash Flood · Jun 9, 2021. An upper low continued to meander across the region on June 9, 2021. Weak upper-level disturbances rotated around the upper low and interacted with a very moist air mass across the Mid-South to produce several rounds of heavy rain across East-Central Arkansas and North Mississippi. There were several instances of flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Mar 9, 2016. A classic heavy rain pattern set up over the Mid-South during the period of March 9th, 2016 to March 13th, 2016. A cold front stretched from Nebraska to Texas on the morning of March 8th. The front moved southeastward and stalled across Southeast Missouri as an upper level low remained stationary over Texas. A very moist atmosphere was in place over the Mid-South south of this boundary. Several weak low pressure c…
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 St. Francis 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.