689 flood insurance claims·$22.7M paid·8 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 Monroe 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 and river flooding from seasonal basin runoff dominate the flood character of Monroe County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 19 flash flood events and 12 general flood events. Significant episodes include a slow-moving thunderstorm system driven by a stationary front and upper-level disturbance on August 12, 2020, and heavy rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon combined with a stalled frontal boundary on September 7, 2018. Additionally, severe river flooding occurred in June 2019 after a snowy winter and heavy spring rains raised the Missouri and Mississippi River basins to record levels.
Federal flood insurance claims data shows that risk is heavily concentrated in specific zones. Zone A accounts for the vast majority of claims with 663 filings, averaging $38,830 per payout and an average recorded water depth of 12 inches. Properties in Zone X, Zone X_SHADED, and Zone X_UNSHADED experienced far fewer claims, ranging between 3 and 14 claims, with average water depths between 8 and 22 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A, where the vast majority of historical flood claims and payouts have occurred.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
2% of Monroe County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
680 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 13 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 1993, with 632 claims and $21.9M paid, the year of Severe Storms & 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.
3 NOAA storm reports from Monroe County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Illinois flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 29, 2023 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Feb 24, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 16, 2013 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 1, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Nov 30, 2006 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Apr 21, 2002 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 28, 1996 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
31 since 1996: 19 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 12, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 2, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 7, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 19, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 3, 2014 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 3, 2022. During the afternoon hours of August 3rd, numerous thunderstorms developed across parts of eastern Missouri and west-central Illinois, triggered by strong surface heating ahead of a surging outflow boundary. These storms developed within a strongly unstable environment, featuring MLCAPE values ranging from 2500 to as much as 4000 J/kg and largely driven by the very warm and humid boundary layer. The initial round…
Flash Flood · Aug 12, 2020. A quasi-stationary frontal boundary combined with an upper level disturbance to generate slow moving thunderstorms. This produced areas of very heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
Flood · Jun 2, 2019. After a very snowy winter across the upper Midwest and numerous rounds of heavy rain across the Missouri and Mississippi River basins through the spring and early summer months, the rivers rose to record levels. The flooding was not quite as high as 1993, but a number of sites had record river levels in the top 5.
Flash Flood · Sep 7, 2018. A combination of a stalled frontal boundary and the remnants from Tropical Storm Gordon brought several rounds of heavy rainfall to portions of Missouri and Illinois. The axis of heaviest rainfall was just south of the St. Louis metro area, especially over Monroe and St. Clair Counties in Illinois.
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 Monroe 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.