13 flood insurance claims·$360,246 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 Carroll 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.
Carroll County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by longer-duration river floods alongside occasional flash flooding, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 45 floods and 16 flash floods over the last 30 years.
Historical events illustrate these seasonal hazards. In March 2019, widespread flooding occurred following a deep regional snowpack combined with frozen soils. Later, in September 2015, slow-moving frontal systems produced rainfall totals in excess of 2 inches, with some reports exceeding 5 inches, resulting in localized flash flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program records highlight the disparity in risk between designated zones. Properties in Zone A have averaged 8 claims with an average payout of $62,176 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Conversely, Zone X properties have averaged 5 claims with an average payout of $9,873 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners and real estate professionals managing properties in Zone A should pay the closest attention to flood risk due to the substantially higher financial losses and water depths associated with these areas.
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 5 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 1996, with 4 claims and $49,915 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.
50 NOAA storm reports from Carroll County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 19, 2010 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 23, 2009 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Snow | Feb 28, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2004 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Jun 13, 1998 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
61 since 1996: 16 flash floods and 45 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 14, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 9, 2016 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Dec 14, 2015 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 6, 2015 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 6, 2015 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 14, 2013 | $75,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 14, 2013 | $50,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 14, 2019. Reports from the 13h through the 19th in this entry. ||A relatively deep and widespread snowpack existed across the region during early to mid March. Many areas in central and northern Iowa had around a foot to two feet of snow on the ground, along with many areas in upstream river basins in Minnesota and the Dakotas having similar or deeper snowpacks on the ground. Additionally, with the below normal temperatures…
Flood · Mar 13, 2019. Reports from the 13h through the 19th in this entry. ||A relatively deep and widespread snowpack existed across the region during early to mid March. Many areas in central and northern Iowa had around a foot to two feet of snow on the ground, along with many areas in upstream river basins in Minnesota and the Dakotas having similar or deeper snowpacks on the ground. Additionally, with the below normal temperatures…
Flash Flood · May 9, 2016. Through the day, a previously stalled warm front slowly made its way northward into portions of west central and southern Iowa. By the afternoon, with modest temperatures in the low to mid 60s and dewpoints around 60, storms developed in the vicinity of the warm front and produced 2 tornadoes west of Guthrie Center in Guthrie County. Another tornado was reported earlier in the day in Davis county.
Flood · Dec 14, 2015. Heavy rain that fell across the state in mid-December led to river flooding at many locations across central and southern Iowa. The ground was already saturated from a wet fall, with new rainfall of one to 3 inches fell across the area in a two-day span. The heavy rainfall also allowed for many area streams and creeks to reach bankfull or go into flood. County roads across several counties were closed due to flood…
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 Carroll 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.