1,896 flood insurance claims·$25.2M paid·28 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 Pointe Coupee 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 storms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Pointe Coupee Parish, alongside significant impacts from tropical systems and hurricanes. Over the last 30 years, recorded events include 16 flash floods, 5 hurricanes, 4 tropical storms, 4 general floods, and 1 tropical depression. Recent severe weather is illustrated by a heavy moisture event causing widespread showers and thunderstorms in January 2024, as well as the rapid intensification and tracking of Hurricane Ida in August 2021 and Tropical Storm Delta in October 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that historical claims span multiple zones, with the vast majority concentrated in high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 1,504 claims with an average payout of $15,050 and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches. Properties in lower-risk designations have also experienced flooding: Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 170 claims averaging $14,728 with an average water depth of 5 inches, Zone UNKNOWN recorded 145 claims averaging $5,275 with an average water depth of 4 inches, Zone X recorded 67 claims averaging $40,922 with an average water depth of 9 inches, and Zone X_SHADED recorded 8 claims averaging $17,737 with an average water depth of 6 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents working in Zone A should pay the closest attention to flood risk given the high volume of historical claims and deeper average water accumulations. However, properties in Zone X designations should also account for potential flood exposure based on past claim history.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of Pointe Coupee Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,684 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 11 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 183 claims and $5.5M 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.
18 NOAA storm reports from Pointe Coupee Parish describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Louisiana flood stories →
46 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 28 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 |
| Hurricane Zeta | Oct 26, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
30 since 1996: 16 flash floods and 4 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jan 24, 2024 | $500,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 24, 2024 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 29, 2021 | $10.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | $10.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 13, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 22, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 21, 2017 | — |
| Flood | Aug 13, 2016 | $4.8M |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jan 24, 2024. For the second time in January, near record atmospheric levels of moisture, for January, was in place across southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana. Low level convergence aided in the formation of a weak stalled frontal boundary, which became the focus for widespread showers and thunderstorms. Strong diffluence aloft from an approaching upper level jet enhanced storms that did develop. The combo of more than…
Hurricane (Typhoon) · Aug 29, 2021. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea on August 23rd. On August 26th, the wave developed into a tropical depression, which organized further and became Tropical Storm Ida later that day, near Grand Cayman. On a northwestward track, Ida intensified into a hurricane on August 27, just before…
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2020. Delta first developed into a tropical depression in the Caribbean just south of Jamaica on the afternoon of October 4th. As it tracked across the western Caribbean, it rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane. In fact, intensifying from tropical depression to Category strength in 40 hours is the fastest rate of intensification of any storm on record in the Atlantic Basin. Delta quickly weakened to a categor…
Tropical Storm · Jul 13, 2019. Hurricane Barry initially developed from a disturbance that moved from Georgia southwest to the northeast Gulf of Mexico on July 8-9, 2019. The weak low pressure system continued to move west-southwest and strengthen, and was eventually classified as Tropical Storm Barry on the morning of July 11th, 95 miles south southeast of the Mouth of the Mississippi River.||Barry continued to move slowly west then northwest…
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 Pointe Coupee 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.