223 flood insurance claims·$7.1M 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 Webster 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 thunderstorms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Webster Parish, Louisiana, backed by 58 recorded flash flood events out of 72 total flood events over the last 30 years, alongside impacts from tropical storms and hurricanes. Recent events include a flash flood on March 15, 2024, driven by widespread strong convection and storm training, and another flash flood on June 3, 2024, caused by a linear mesoscale convective system advancing from Oklahoma into the region. Additional flash flood events occurred on March 22, 2022, and May 2, 2022, associated with upper-level troughs and unstable warm, moist air masses.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating widespread exposure beyond designated high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 145 claims with an average payout of $31,793 and an average recorded water depth of 12 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X records 67 claims with a higher average payout of $50,884 and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches. Zone UNKNOWN and Zone X_UNSHADED recorded smaller numbers of claims with lower average payouts and shallower water depths. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located in both high-risk Zone A and moderate-to-low risk Zone X, as both zones have experienced significant claims and deep standing water.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
3% of Webster Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
150 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 13 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 65 claims and $4.4M 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.
30 NOAA storm reports from Webster Parish describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Louisiana flood stories →
37 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.
72 since 1996: 58 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 2, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 15, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 3, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 22, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 27, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 10, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 10, 2016 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 10, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 2, 2025. An upper level trough traversed east across the Southern Plains on May 2nd, which reinforced a weak cold front southeast into portions of extreme Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas along the I-30 corridor by afternoon. Strong daytime heating contributed to ample air mass destabilization through the day across the warm and moist sector ahead of the front, with scattered severe thunderstorms developing by midday…
Flash Flood · Mar 15, 2024. Strong and deep convection became widespread over the Ark-La-Tex and downstream portions of southern Arkansas on March 15th. This occurred along an outflow boundary on the southwestern flank of a decaying MCS, and a favorable environment encouraged increased training over several hours. The mesoscale environment was characterized by ML CAPE of 1000-2000 J/kg, PWATs of 1.5-1.8 inches, and deep layer shear of 30-50…
Flash Flood · Jun 3, 2024. A linear mesoscale convective system (MCS) advanced southeast into the Ark-La-Tex from Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening hours on June 3rd. A pocket of strong instability was present ahead of the line, where MLCAPE values ranged from around 2500 to 3500 J/kg range and surface dew points were in the 70s. Instability along with strong large-scale ascent associated with a vorticity maxima and low-level conver…
Flash Flood · Mar 22, 2022. A closed upper low emerged out of the Rockies and into the Central Plains during the afternoon and evening hours of March 21st, with the attendant upper trough swinging east through Central Texas and Oklahoma. Strong southerly low level winds allowed for the rapid return of warm, moist, and unstable air north behind a warm front which lifted north through East Texas and North Louisiana. Large scale forcing began t…
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 Webster 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.