233 flood insurance claims·$10.6M paid·9 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 Fremont 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.
River flooding dominates Fremont County, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 79 flood events and 1 death, compared to 6 flash flood events over the last 30 years.
Significant recent events include a March 2019 bomb cyclone, where a frozen ground and melting snow combined with 1 to 2.5 inches of rain to produce historic flooding across western Iowa. Additionally, persistent river flooding along the Missouri River kept sections of Interstate 29 closed into July 2024 as waters slowly receded.
NFIP insurance claims data indicates that property owners in Zone A have filed the highest volume of claims at 125, averaging $40,686 per payout with an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. However, properties in Zone X and unshaded Zone X should also pay close attention, as they have accounted for a combined 107 claims with higher average payouts of $88,741 (3-inch average water depth) and $75,935 (5-inch average water depth), respectively.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
31% of Fremont County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
180 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 4 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 2019, with 117 claims and $7.9M paid, the year of Severe Storms 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.
31 NOAA storm reports from Fremont County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
19 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Flooding | May 25, 2011 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 23, 2009 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Dec 10, 2007 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | May 5, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2004 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
85 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 79 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jun 24, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jul 1, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 29, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 17, 2019 | $14.0M |
| Flood | Mar 15, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | $22.0M · 1 killed |
| Flood | Apr 1, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 27, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jun 24, 2024. A series of shortwave troughs traversing the northern CONUS brought unsettled weather to the area for the end of June. On the 21st, a stationary front was draped across northeast Nebraska into Iowa. Ahead of one of the aforementioned shortwave troughs, several rounds of strong thunderstorms developed near this frontal zone and moved across northeast Nebraska. At 8 pm on the 21st, radar imagery showed training thun…
Flood · Jul 1, 2024. At the beginning of July, river flooding was still ongoing along portions of the Missouri River extending from east-central Nebraska/southwest Iowa to the southern Nebraska border. Most of the length of the river crested at the end of June, so the greatest impacts are addressed in June StormData. However, sections of I-29 and the I-29/I680 junction remained closed through the first week of July as flood waters rec…
Flood · May 29, 2019. Flooding continued along the Missouri River through the month of May. Increased flood levels prompted the closure of Interstate 29 once again, from Highway 34 southward to the Missouri Border, and from I680/29 split northward to the I680/80 split. Gavins Point Dam releases were increased from 55,000 cfs to 75,000 cfs by the end of the month.
Flash Flood · Mar 17, 2019. A 971mb bomb cyclone moved out of the central Rockies on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 and helped to create widespread, moderate to major, and in many cases historic, flooding across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. From 4 to 15 inches of snow cover remained across the mid Missouri River valley, and the ground was frozen with existing frost depths of 15 to 23 inches. Warm temperatures allowed all of the snow to rapi…
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 Fremont 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.