3 flood insurance claims·$7,979 paid·5 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 Hancock 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.
Standard river flooding and general floods from slow-moving systems dominate the historical flood profile of Hancock County, outnumbering flash flood occurrences over the last 30 years according to NOAA data.
Historical events illustrate the primary weather drivers in the region. In May 2024, multiple rounds of slow-moving thunderstorms driven by a low-pressure system dropped 2 to 4 inches of rainfall, causing flash flooding over portions of northern and central Iowa. Earlier, in March 2019, widespread flooding occurred following a period where central and northern Iowa held a foot to two feet of snow on the ground, coupled with deep frost in soils and heavy snowpacks in upstream river basins across Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Federal insurance records include 3 historical claims in Zone UNKNOWN, showing an average payout of $2,660 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists working with properties in unmapped or uncertain zones should pay close attention to these historical flood patterns when evaluating local risk.
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 1 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.
36 NOAA storm reports from Hancock County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
15 federal disaster declarations since 1991, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 20, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 6, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 14, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Snow | Feb 28, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
42 since 1996: 5 flash floods and 37 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 21, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Mar 15, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 14, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Flood | Sep 20, 2018 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 15, 2017 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2014 | $25,000 |
| Flood | Jun 12, 2010 | — |
| Flood | Jun 26, 2005 | $74,070 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 21, 2024. PLEASE NOTE, for tornadoes, please see separate Storm Data entry for May 21st. ||Multiple rounds of thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall, damaging winds, hail and destructive tornadoes to the state. These thunderstorms were the result of a low pressure system which lifted north into the area on the night of May 20th, 2024, producing slow moving storms that dropped 2 to 4 inches of rainfall. This resulted in f…
Flood · Mar 15, 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 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 · Sep 20, 2018. More heavy rainfall was seen across the area, primarily situated over the northern third of the state, as a surface boundary sat across central Iowa and a shortwave moved through the upper level flow. Overall, conditions remained ripe and very much summer-like as opposed to mid-September including precipitable water values were around and in excess of 1.7 inches, moderate to strong low level moisture flow, modest…
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 Hancock 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.