68 flood insurance claims·$1.8M paid·12 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 Claiborne 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.
Flash flooding from severe weather events dominates the flood risk profile in Claiborne Parish, accounting for the vast majority of recorded storm events over the last 30 years alongside occasional tropical systems and general floods. Historical events documented by NOAA include a Mesoscale Convective Vortex that produced heavy repeated rainfall and flash flooding in July 2023, as well as significant impacts from Tropical Storm Laura in August 2020 and a stationary upper-level low system in March 2016.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that high-risk Zone A properties have experienced the most significant impacts, logging 42 claims with an average payout of $45,920 and an average recorded water depth of 17 inches. Moderate- and low-risk zones also carry residual risk; unshaded Zone X properties recorded 11 claims with an average payout of $44,368 and an average water depth of 7 inches, while shaded and standard Zone X properties averaged 2 inches of water across 12 total claims. Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to historical claim payouts and recorded water depths when evaluating property risk.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
29% of Claiborne Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
59 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 12 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 2016, with 42 claims and $1.6M 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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Claiborne Parish describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Louisiana flood stories →
34 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 12 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: 24 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 12, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 27, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 9, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 8, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 6, 2014 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 21, 2012 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 30, 2009 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 30, 2009 | $250,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 12, 2023. A Mesoscale Convective Vortex (MCV) that was a remnant of showers and thunderstorms over Central Oklahoma on July 11th, drifted east into Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours of the 12th. This upper level disturbance moved over an area that was very warm, moist, and unstable, and focused a cluster of showers and thunderstorms throughout much of the morning hours before drifting east out of the region…
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 · Mar 9, 2016. A strong upper level low pressure system settled over northern Mexico on March 8th, and became stationary through March 12th as it was cut off from the upper level jet stream, with a blocking upper ridge having developed over Florida and the western Atlantic. Meanwhile, a weak frontal boundary entered the region from the west on the 8th, and became stationary over Deep East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, and Southwes…
Flash Flood · Mar 8, 2016. A strong upper level low pressure system settled over northern Mexico on March 8th, and became stationary through March 12th as it was cut off from the upper level jet stream, with a blocking upper ridge having developed over Florida and the western Atlantic. Meanwhile, a weak frontal boundary entered the region from the west on the 8th, and became stationary over Deep East Texas, Northwest Louisiana, and Southwes…
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 Claiborne 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.