56 flood insurance claims·$594,033 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 Lincoln 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 convective storms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana. Over the past 30 years, NOAA data records 31 flash flood events resulting in 1 death, alongside impacts from tropical systems and general flooding. Severe weather events, such as a pre-dawn mesoscale convective system on May 30, 2024, and strong thunderstorms driven by a warm front on April 7, 2019, have produced significant heavy rainfall and localized flooding across the area. Additionally, tropical systems like Hurricanes Laura and Delta tracked northward through the region in August and October of 2020.
Federal insurance claims data shows historical payouts across multiple flood zones. Zone A accounts for the majority of claims with 37 filings averaging $15,993 per claim and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Zone X properties recorded 9 claims averaging $4,950 with an average water depth of 4 inches, while unknown zones recorded 5 claims averaging $5,077 with a 4-inch average depth. Zone V recorded 2 claims averaging $10,025 with an average water depth of 24 inches, and unshaded Zone X properties filed 2 claims averaging $6,106 with an average depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, which has experienced the highest frequency and highest average payout of claims, as well as properties in Zone V that have experienced significantly deeper average water depths during flooding events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
7% of Lincoln Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
42 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 4 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 1989, with 10 claims and $86,159 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.
17 NOAA storm reports from Lincoln Parish describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Louisiana flood stories →
35 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.
37 since 1996: 31 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 30, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 27, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 13, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 7, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Jan 4, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 22, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 21, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 30, 2024. Remnants of a pre-dawn mesoscale convective system (MCS) that developed over the southern High Plains propagated downstream into the Ark-La-Tex region during the evening hours on May 30th. Diurnal heating and weak convective inhibition allowed for renewed development of severe thunderstorms along the leading edge of this long-lived MCS. Surface temperatures warmed into the 80s ahead of this convection across North…
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…
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…
Flash Flood · Apr 13, 2019. A strong upper level trough entered the Southern Plains during the afternoon hours of April 12th, which allowed southerly low level winds to gradually return warm and moist air from the Gulf of Mexico north into East Texas and North Louisiana. An upper level disturbance ejecting northeast ahead of the trough across portions of East Texas and North Louisiana during the early morning hours of April 13th carried enou…
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 Lincoln 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.