490 flood insurance claims·$5.3M paid·18 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 Caldwell Parish, Louisiana. 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.
Caldwell Parish experiences a flood risk profile dominated by flash flooding, accounting for 20 of the 29 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside tropical storm and river flood impacts. This hazard is driven by severe weather systems, such as major hurricanes impacting the region, which bring intense rainfall and subsequent flooding. For example, Major Hurricane Laura tracked north across Louisiana on August 27, 2020, followed closely by Hurricane Delta and associated flash flooding on October 10, 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that historical claims are heavily concentrated in specific areas. Zone A properties should pay the most attention, accounting for 444 total claims with an average payout of $11,558 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties located in Zone X, shaded Zone X, unshaded Zone X, and unknown zones have experienced fewer claims—ranging between 10 and 15 claims per zone—though they recorded higher average payouts, ranging from $17,350 to $28,057, with an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Caldwell Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
469 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 6 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 1991, with 258 claims and $2.3M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes & 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.
17 NOAA storm reports from Caldwell Parish describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Louisiana flood stories →
38 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 18 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Tropical Storm Francine | Sep 10, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Nicholas | Sep 12, 2021 |
| Hurricane Ida | Aug 26, 2021 |
| Tropical Storm Ida | Aug 26, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storm Zeta | Oct 26, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
29 since 1996: 20 flash floods and 4 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Aug 27, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 10, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | — |
| Flood | May 12, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Jun 1, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 2, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 28, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 8, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Aug 27, 2020. Major Hurricane Laura tracked north northwest across the Central and Northern Gulf of Mexico from the Central Carribean Sea near Cuba, making landfall in Southwest Louisiana near Cameron around 1 am on August 27th as a strong Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 150 mph, and a minimum central pressure of 938 mb. Laura remained a hurricane as it tracked north across Southwest and Central Louisiana…
Flash Flood · Oct 10, 2020. Hurricane Delta tracked north northwest across the Western Carribean Sea as a major hurricane, having rapidly strengthened from a tropical depression to a Category 4 hurricane in just over 36 hours, the fastest intensification rate on record. Delta made its first landfall across the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun on October 7th, before tracking north and making a second landfall near Creole, Louisiana in Cameron Pa…
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2020. Hurricane Delta tracked north northwest across the Western Carribean Sea as a major hurricane, having rapidly strengthened from a tropical depression to a Category 4 hurricane in just over 36 hours, the fastest intensification rate on record. Delta made its first landfall across the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancun on October 7th, before tracking north and making a second landfall near Creole, Louisiana in Cameron Pa…
Flood · May 12, 2019. Moderate flooding developed by the second week of May along the Ouachita River at Columbia as a result much above normal rainfall that fell across much of the Ouachita River basin of Central and Southern Arkansas and extreme Northern Louisiana since February 2019.
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 Caldwell 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.