53 flood insurance claims·$517,757 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 Van Buren 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 from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Van Buren County, supported by 23 flash flood events compared to 17 general flood events over the last 30 years according to NOAA data.
Severe weather instances illustrate this hazard, such as a slow-moving storm system on July 11, 2021, that dropped 1 to 3 inches of rain and caused flash flooding during the late morning and early afternoon. Similarly, two rounds of heavy rain totaling 2 to 3 inches moved through within 24 hours on May 27, 2021, resulting in the flooding of fields and local roads.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners in Zone A should pay the most attention, as this zone accounts for the vast majority of the county's historical claims with 40 filings averaging $11,686 and an average recorded water depth of 25 inches. Homeowners in Zone X_UNSHADED also experienced significant risk, recording an average water depth of 32 inches across 5 claims.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
18% of Van Buren County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
49 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 22 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 2008, with 26 claims and $348,267 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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Van Buren County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Iowa flood stories →
16 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Severe Storm And Tornadoes | Jul 19, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 17, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Jun 1, 2010 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 25, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Dec 10, 2007 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 17, 2007 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 23, 2007 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
40 since 1996: 23 flash floods and 17 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 27, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 24, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 11, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2020 | — |
| Flood | May 29, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 28, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 28, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Apr 18, 2013 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 27, 2021. Locally heavy rainfall led to flooding of fields and local roads in parts of Van Buren County overnight on the 27th. Van Buren and Lee Counties saw the worst of the rain, with accumulations around 2-3 inches, as two rounds of heavy rain moved through within 24 hours.
Flash Flood · Jun 24, 2021. A line of strong thunderstorms and heavy rain moved through Iowa on the 24th, which led to flash flooding for some areas. The areas seeing the largest impact were in Jefferson and Van Buren Counties in Iowa. The environment in which these storms were in not only favored thunderstorms, but heavy rain, as moisture indices were near record level. Very efficient rain rates were seen, where 2 to 3 inches per hour were…
Flash Flood · Jul 11, 2021. A stalled storm system centered near Galesburg Illinois brought several rounds of showers and embedded thunderstorms to eastern Iowa through the day. These showers and thunderstorms were slow moving westward across the area and were efficient rainfall producers. Trained spotters reported 1 to 3 inches of rain in Van Buren County that led to flash flooding during the late morning and early afternoon.
Flash Flood · Jun 30, 2020. A shortwave lifting northeastward from Missouri and a slow moving mesoscale convective vorticity maximum interacted with a warm and humid air mass across eastern Iowa and brought showers and thunderstorms that produced heavy rainfall. This led to flash flooding in Van Buren 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 Van Buren 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.