370 flood insurance claims·$4.3M paid·27 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 West Feliciana 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 and tropical weather systems dominate the flood risk profile in West Feliciana Parish, backed by 8 flash flood events, 5 tropical storms, 5 hurricanes, and 3 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent historical impacts include Hurricane Ida in August 2021, Tropical Storm Delta in October 2020, Hurricane Barry in July 2019, and a significant flash flood event in May 2019.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, with the highest volume concentrated in Zone A, which recorded 222 claims with an average payout of $15,070 and an average water depth of 11 inches. Properties in Zone X_UNSHADED also experienced notable severity, averaging $59,165 per payout across 27 claims with an average water depth of 9 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X recorded 115 claims averaging a $1,017 payout with an average water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and Zone X_UNSHADED should pay the most attention to flood risk due to the higher claim frequencies and deeper average water depths recorded in these areas.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of West Feliciana Parish’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
249 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 10 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 1990, with 114 claims and $102,634 paid.
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.
15 NOAA storm reports from West Feliciana Parish describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Louisiana flood stories →
44 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 27 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Tropical Storm Francine | Sep 10, 2024 |
| Hurricane Francine | Sep 9, 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
22 since 1996: 8 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 29, 2021 | $5.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | $5.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 13, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 22, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 12, 2016 | $5.2M |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 28, 2012 | $585,000 |
| Flood | May 5, 2011 | $50,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Flash Flood · May 11, 2019. A Mesoscale Convective Complex moved across southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi during the early morning hours of the 11th. Unstable air in the wake of this system allowed the redevelopment of thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours.
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 West Feliciana 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.