30 flood insurance claims·$700,670 paid·7 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 Monona 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.
Monona County experiences an even distribution of flood risk driven equally by general flooding and flash flooding. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 12 flood events and 11 flash flood events. Significant recent activity includes a series of strong thunderstorms and training storms in June 2024 that brought heavy rain via a stationary front, as well as a historic bomb cyclone in March 2019 that combined rapid snowmelt over frozen ground with 1 to 2.5 inches of rain.
Federal insurance data reflects risk across different hazard zones. In FEMA Zone A, the county has logged 15 claims with an average payout of $33,551 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. In Zone X, an identical 15 claims resulted in an average payout of $29,806 and an average recorded water depth of 39 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within both designated high-risk riverine areas (Zone A) and moderate-to-low risk areas (Zone X), as both zones have recorded substantial claim histories and flood damage within the county.
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 24 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 2011, with 13 claims and $367,872 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds 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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Monona County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Mar 19, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Jun 16, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2013 |
| Flooding | May 25, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 9, 2011 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 19, 2010 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 23, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
23 since 1996: 11 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 25, 2024 | $100,000 |
| Flood | Jun 24, 2024 | $1.0M |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | $4.2M |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 3, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 16, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2014 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2014 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 25, 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 · 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 · Mar 13, 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…
Flash Flood · Jul 3, 2019. Strong thunderstorms early in the morning on July 3 produced very heavy rain. Strong thunderstorms developed during the afternoon and produced damaging winds.
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 Monona 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.