Bossier Parish, Louisiana Flood Zone Map

How Bossier Parish floods

Flash flooding from severe weather events dominates the flood history of Bossier Parish, accounting for 125 of the 150 total recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside lesser impacts from general floods, tropical storms, and hurricanes. Recent weather patterns illustrate this frequent threat, such as a mature squall line that produced flash flooding on March 4, 2025, and a saturated ground environment driven by a stationary boundary that caused additional flash flooding on February 12, 2025.

Federal Emergency Management Agency flood insurance claims data shows that historical flood impacts extend across multiple zones, with Zone A recording 861 claims at an average payout of $33,905 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Zone X properties also experienced notable impacts, logging 121 claims with an average payout of $33,352 and a higher average recorded water depth of 14 inches. Meanwhile, shaded Zone X and unshaded Zone X recorded smaller averages of 4 inches and 3 inches of water depth, respectively.

Homeowners and real estate agents in high-risk designated areas, as well as properties located in Zone X where average recorded water depths reached 14 inches during past claims, should pay the closest attention to flood risk and mitigation.

Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.

Where the flood claims came from

8% of Bossier Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.

• V zones 1
• A zones 861
• X shaded 27
• X 44

933 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.

How deep the water got

Flood claims, year by year

The worst year was 2016, with 307 claims and $12.0M 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.

From the storm reports

Flash Flood · Apr 30, 2025. A weak cold front slowly advanced southeast into portions of Northeast Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, into Western Arkansas and Southern Missouri on April 30th, and focused a warm, very moist, and unstable air mass in place across much of East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon through the evening hours. Meanwhile, an upper low pressure area ejected northeast from the Desert Southwest…

Flash Flood · May 26, 2025. A weak surface frontal boundary drifted south to near the I-20 corridor of East Texas and North Louisiana during the early morning hours of May 26th, with a warm and moist air mass along and south of the front yielding adequate instability along and south of the front. While scattered strong to severe thunderstorms over portions of extreme Northeast Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas reinforced this…

Flash Flood · Sep 24, 2025. A cool front entered the region during the early afternoon hours of September 24th, ahead of an approaching upper trough that traversed the Southern Plains. Strong heating ahead of the front and attendant trough contributed to increased instability, with large scale forcing from these surface and upper level features contributing to scattered strong to severe thunderstorms containing heavy rainfall across portions…

Flash Flood · Nov 24, 2025. A mature linear thunderstorm complex developed across the Middle Red River Valley on November 24th and extended from Southwest Arkansas south-southwestward into East Texas and Northwest Louisiana. This thunderstorm complex was slow in its forward propagation eastward while producing areas of 0.5-1 inch/hour rain rates. An outflow boundary from this activity also extended farther westward from Longview to near Waco…

National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

The zones you’ll see on the map

Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.

Every flood zone code explained →

Flood insurance in Bossier Parish

If a building in Bossier Parish 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.