867 flood insurance claims·$10.8M 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 Pottawattamie 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 and flash flooding from summer thunderstorms dominate the flood history of Pottawattamie County, backed by 29 floods and 19 flash floods recorded over the last 30 years in the NOAA Storm Events Database. Recent events illustrate these hazards, including a flash flood reported in April 2023 driven by a cold front, and lingering Missouri River flooding in July 2024 that kept sections of I-29 and the I-29/I-680 junction closed as waters receded.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating that flood risk extends beyond designated high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for the highest impact with 540 claims averaging $22,127 and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Zone X properties also face significant risk, logging 182 claims with an average payout of $22,908 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches, alongside 59 claims in unshaded Zone X and 39 claims in shaded Zone X averaging 7 inches and 2 inches of water depth respectively.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where claims data show substantial financial losses and water depths averaging 7 to 11 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Pottawattamie County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
638 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 9 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 1999, with 232 claims and $843,790 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.
24 NOAA storm reports from Pottawattamie County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Jun 16, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 20, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Apr 26, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 3, 2014 |
| Flooding | May 25, 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.
48 since 1996: 19 flash floods and 29 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jun 24, 2024 | $550,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | $75,000 |
| Flood | Jul 1, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 14, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 31, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 29, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | — |
— = 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…
Flash Flood · May 21, 2024. Troughing over the western CONUS brought southwesterly flow aloft over the central and northern Plains for the duration of this event. In the couple of days leading up to May 21st, the upper-level flow pattern amplified as a trough deepened over the northern Rockies. This trough then ejected out into the central Plains on the 21st. At the surface, a stationary front developed and stretched across central Nebraska…
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…
Flash Flood · Apr 14, 2023. A cold front moved across western Iowa which had observed unseasonably warm temperatures in the past couple of days. The front set off a line of storms that produced strong wind gusts and smaller hail. The strongest measured wind gust was 68 mph in Page County. A flash flood was also reported in Pottawattamie County.
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 Pottawattamie 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.