108 flood insurance claims·$2.0M 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 Benton County, Iowa. 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 profile of Benton County, Iowa, accounting for 25 out of 44 total recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside 19 general flood events. Severe weather can rapidly overwhelm local drainage, as occurred in July 2025 when a decaying line of thunderstorms dropped 1.5 to 3.5 inches of rain onto saturated ground, causing flash flooding in Vinton. Heavy rainfall systems also produce widespread river and surface flooding, such as the passage of Tropical Depression Cristobal in June 2020, which brought localized rainfall amounts of 4 to 5 inches near Belle Plaine.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend across multiple zones. Zone A accounts for the majority of historical claims with 80 filings averaging $25,080 per payout and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Meanwhile, properties located in Zone X have recorded 24 claims averaging $14,903 with an average water depth of 21 inches, and Zone X_SHADED has recorded 4 claims averaging $14,355 with an average water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within designated high-risk Zone A, where the highest volume of flood insurance claims originates, as well as properties in Zone X where recorded water depths during flooding have been notably deep.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Benton County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
84 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 12 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 2008, with 42 claims and $1.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and 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.
13 NOAA storm reports from Benton County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms | Aug 10, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Sep 21, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 21, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jul 9, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 23, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
44 since 1996: 25 flash floods and 19 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 11, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 22, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 9, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 30, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 12, 2018 | — |
| Flood | Sep 4, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 19, 2025. A decaying line of thunderstorms moved into Benton County on the morning of July 19th. This produced heavy rain with trained spotters reports ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 inches of rain. This rain falling on already saturated ground led to flash flooding in Vinton.
Flash Flood · Aug 15, 2025. Hot weather resulted in daily episodes of clusters of storms with damaging winds, isolated hail, and some areas of flash flooding from August 12 through August 18th. The most widespread activity occurred August 15th, and 18th, when several lines of storms moved through the area.
Flash Flood · Jul 11, 2025. On July 11th, a line of severe thunderstorms moved across eastern Iowa and produced damaging straight-line winds, tornadoes and heavy rain. Rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches fell in a few hours across the Quad Cities, on top of heavy rain from the previous night and caused major flash flooding in Davenport. A Considerable Flash Flood warning was issued at 5:26 PM followed by a Flash Flood Emergency at 6:16 PM.
Flood · Jun 22, 2020. Numerous round of showers and thunderstorms moved across eastern Iowa during the day on the 22nd as a storm system interacted with numerous outflow boundaries and a quasi-stationary front across the area. These storms brought heavy rains of 1 to 2 inches in Benton and Buchanan Counties that caused flooding, as well as severe wind gusts in southeast Iowa.
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 Benton 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.