4 flood insurance claims·$28,581 paid
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 Clay County, Illinois. 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 summer thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Clay County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 57 flash flood events compared to 11 general flood events.
Severe storms can produce intense rainfall accumulations, such as the slow-moving thunderstorms on July 19, 2025, which dropped 6 to 8 inches of rain along and south of US-50 and caused significant flash flooding from Xenia to Flora. National Flood Insurance Program records show claims filed across multiple zones, including Zone A with an average payout of $19,714 and an average recorded water depth of 15 inches, Zone X with an average payout of $1,855 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch, and Zone X_Unshaded with an average payout of $7,013 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents in high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas designated as Zone A should pay the closest attention to these risks, as they account for the highest average claim payouts and water depths, though properties in Zone X and Zone X_Unshaded have also recorded historical flood insurance claims.
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 8 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 2015, with 2 claims and $21,569 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.
31 NOAA storm reports from Clay County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Illinois flood stories →
5 federal disaster declarations since 2002.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Jan 31, 2011 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Apr 21, 2002 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
68 since 1996: 57 flash floods and 11 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 6, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 2, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 19, 2025. Slow-moving thunderstorms dropped very heavy rainfall across southern Clay County from mid-morning through mid-afternoon of July 19th. Rainfall amounts of 6-8 inches were common along and south of US-50, resulting in significant flash flooding from Xenia to Flora. Further north, rainfall of 3-4 inches caused minor street flooding in parts of Decatur in Macon County.
Flash Flood · Aug 6, 2023. A vigorous short-wave trough interacted with an approaching low pressure system and associated warm frontal boundary to trigger clusters of strong to severe thunderstorms across west-central Illinois during the late afternoon of August 6th. Due to enhanced low-level wind shear along and north of the warm front, many of the cells began rotating and spinning up occasional funnel clouds. One of the cells intensifie…
Flash Flood · Aug 3, 2023. A stationary front draped across southern Missouri and far southern Illinois aided thunderstorm development, including a narrow band of training thunderstorms across southeast Illinois during the early morning hours of August 3. These thunderstorms resulted in heavy rainfall, with reports ranging from 2 to 7 inches across Clay County, which led to flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Aug 2, 2022. An outflow boundary from convection earlier in the day served as the primary focusing mechanism for numerous storm clusters along and south of I-70 from the late afternoon of August 1st into the pre-dawn hours of August 2nd. Some of the storms dropped very large hail up to 2 inches in diameter. In addition, continuous back-building cells produced a swath of heavy rainfall in excess of 8 inches from eastern Effi…
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 Clay 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.