145 flood insurance claims·$1.4M paid·10 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 Tama 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.
Over the last 30 years, standard riverine flooding mixed with flash flooding from thunderstorms defines the flood character of Tama County, with NOAA recording 46 flood events and 19 flash flood events.
Recent events illustrate this risk, such as the multiple rounds of slow-moving thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in May 2024 that dropped 2 to 6 inches of rain across the region, producing flash flooding through the morning of May 21.
Property owners and real estate agents should pay the most attention to properties in Zone A, which accounts for the vast majority of historical flood insurance claims in the county with 137 claims averaging an $11,224 payout and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches. Homeowners in Zone X and unknown zones should also note that while claims are fewer, they still experience significant impacts, such as Zone X claims averaging a $7,694 payout with an average water depth of 18 inches, and unknown zone claims averaging a $1,250 payout with an average recorded water depth of 31 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Tama County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
137 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 18 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 1993, with 43 claims and $364,480 paid, the year of Severe Storms & 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 Tama County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 10 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 20, 2024 |
| 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 Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jul 9, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 23, 2007 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
65 since 1996: 19 flash floods and 46 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 21, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jun 25, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 23, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 23, 2020 | $400,000 |
| Flood | Jun 22, 2020 | — |
| Flood | May 25, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 15, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 21, 2024. There were several rounds of rainfall over the period starting around May 20 through around May 25. This is when there were two rounds of heavy rainfall along with severe thunderstorms including tornadoes and straight-line winds, detailed in respective severe entries for the month. 60-hour rainfall totals ending May 21 at 7pm were up to 4 to 6 inches over portions of Marshall, Tama, Poweshiek, and Jasper Counties.…
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…
Flood · Jun 25, 2020. A wet end to the 3rd week of June and continued moderate to heavy rainfalls into the middle of the 4th week of June caused rivers across the eastern portions of the Des Moines CWA to swell and reach flood stage from as little as a few hours near Tama to a few days around Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Hudson.
Flood · Jun 23, 2020. A surface low to the northwest of Iowa allowed for convection to develop in the warm sector and along the surface boundary as it pushed across northern Iowa through the afternoon and evening of the 21st. These storms caused damaging winds and large hail across northern and central Iowa. Localized areas received heavy rain that resulted in flooding overnight. Another shortwave embedded within the parent longwave tr…
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 Tama 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.