435 flood insurance claims·$13.6M paid·4 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 Washington 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 thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Washington County, accounting for 130 events and 5 deaths over the last 30 years, alongside 11 general flood events. Recent activity includes severe thunderstorms driven by upper-level disturbances and dry lines that produced heavy rainfall and flash flooding in April and May 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that flood risks extend beyond standard high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 265 claims with an average payout of $35,502 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X records 153 claims with an average payout of $49,031 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Additional claims are distributed across Zone X unshaded, Zone X shaded, and unknown zones.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where the highest concentrations of claims and significant average water depths demonstrate substantial financial and physical flood risk.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
4% of Washington County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
275 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 7 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 2011, with 105 claims and $2.5M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Associated 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.
68 NOAA storm reports from Washington County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Arkansas flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 4 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, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 23, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 26, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 26, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Associated Flooding | Apr 14, 2011 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 26, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
141 since 1996: 130 flash floods and 11 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 28, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 23, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 7, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 13, 2022 | $50,000 |
| Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 5, 2022 | — · 1 killed |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 28, 2025. Thunderstorms developed across portions of northwestern Arkansas during the morning of the 28th, near a frontal boundary that stretched across the area. The thunderstorms were slow-moving, and some moved repeatedly across the same areas, which resulted in locally heavy rainfall and some flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Sep 23, 2025. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into northwestern Arkansas from the northwest during the afternoon of the 23rd, and additional thunderstorms developed across the area during the late afternoon and evening as a cold front moved through the region. The strongest storms produced large hail to ping pong ball size and damaging wind gusts. Locally heavy rainfall from these thunderstorms produced some flash floo…
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…
Flood · Jun 7, 2025. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed during the evening of the 6th over southeast Colorado, southwest Kansas, and the western Oklahoma Panhandle. The storms moved southeast across Oklahoma through the early morning hours of the 7th, evolving into a well-organized squall line by the time they moved into northwestern Arkansas. The line of strong to severe thunderstorms produced a tornado and damaging wind across…
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 Washington 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.