26 flood insurance claims·$592,282 paid·6 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 Sierra County, California. 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.
Less than 1% of Sierra County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
25 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 3 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 1997, with 8 claims and $62,499 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.
2 NOAA storm reports from Sierra County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the California flood stories →
16 federal disaster declarations since 1964, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 9, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 21, 2023 |
| Wildfires | Aug 14, 2020 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Feb 1, 2017 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Jan 3, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, And Landslides | Dec 17, 2005 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Mud And Landslides | Dec 28, 1996 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
5 since 1996: 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 9, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Feb 9, 2017 | $6.8M |
| Flood | Dec 30, 2005 | $1.0M |
| Flood | Jan 1, 1997 | — |
| Flood | Jan 1, 1997 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 9, 2023. Strong, even damaging west-southwest winds increased travel hazards especially to high profile trucks but also increased the danger for destructive avalanches across the region. Snow started at all elevations Thursday evening with snow levels rapidly rising Friday morning. Heavy, wet snow (Sierra Nevada Cement) fell across higher elevation areas as snow levels rose to 7000 feet over the region. Heavy rainfall in…
Flood · Feb 9, 2017. Two significant waves of precipitation associated with an atmospheric river brought heavy rain and higher elevation (mainly above 6500 feet) snowfall to northeast California. Widespread rainfall totals between 5 and 8 inches were reported between the 6th and 10th, with rainfall and/or liquid equivalent amounts up to between 10 and 16 inches near the northern Sierra crest. The rainfall brought widespread flooding t…
Flood · Jan 1, 1997. Several periods of rain (with snow to unusually low elevations in the mountains) beginning December 20, 1996, set up saturated conditions that finally gave way on the 1st as subtropical air moved in and melted snow up to the 8000-foot level. The moist airmass also left huge amounts of additional rain in the valley, foothills, and mountains with its nearly ideal orographic enhancement conditions. Some of the highe…
Flood · Jan 1, 1997. Please see flood summary under Nevada zones from 1/01/97 to 1/17/97.
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 Sierra 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.