17 flood insurance claims·$210,804 paid·6 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 Hardin 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 and standard river floods from severe weather events dominate the local flood risk. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 38 flood events and 21 flash flood events in the area.
Recent historic events illustrate this pattern. In March 2019, a deep regional snowpack combined with frozen soils to generate significant flooding across the area. Later, in May 2024, slow-moving thunderstorms driven by a low pressure system dropped 2 to 4 inches of rainfall, resulting in flash flooding over portions of northern and central Iowa.
NFIP claim records indicate that properties located within high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas bear the heaviest burden. Specifically, Zone A properties accounted for 16 historical claims with an average payout of $21,080 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. By contrast, Zone X properties recorded only 1 claim with an average payout of $0 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents with properties in Zone A should pay the closest attention to flood preparedness and risk mitigation.
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 6 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 2013, with 4 claims and $17,416 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.
53 NOAA storm reports from Hardin County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms | Aug 10, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 26, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2013 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 19, 2010 |
| 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.
59 since 1996: 21 flash floods and 38 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 17, 2019 | $200,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 15, 2019 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Dec 14, 2015 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2014 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2014 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 29, 2013 | $200,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2013 | $25,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash 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…
Flash Flood · Mar 17, 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 · Jun 15, 2019. Increasingly humid conditions, a weak low pressure system, and an impinging northern weak cold front combined to create an environment ripe for strong to severe storms across northern and central Iowa, with much of the severe activity through central Iowa. ||The resulting environment from the aforementioned ingredients included SBCAPE values in the 2000-3000+ J/kg range, marginal effective bulk shear around 30 kts…
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 Hardin 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.