70 flood insurance claims·$214,860 paid·9 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 Carver County, Minnesota. 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.
Flooding in Carver County is characterized by a nearly even mix of flash floods and river floods. According to NOAA Storm Events Database records from the last 30 years, the county experienced 17 flash flood events and 15 general flood events, driven by both intense summer rainfall and spring snowmelt.
Recent historic events illustrate these dual threats. In March 2019, a severe spring flood melt along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers and their tributaries resulted from above-average snowpack combined with a cold late winter and subsequent warming storms. Later, a severe flash flood occurred on June 9, 2018, when thunderstorms trained along the Minnesota River around Belle Plaine and Carver, producing rainfall rates of nearly 2 inches per hour and localized rainfall totals of 3 to 4 inches within two hours. Additional multi-day thunderstorm rounds in June 2014 brought flash flooding that evolved into areal and main-stem river flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners in FEMA Zone A have filed the majority of claims (55 claims, with an average payout of $3,457 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches). However, properties outside high-risk zones also face exposure, as evidenced by 10 claims filed in Zone X (average payout of $17,700, average 2 inches recorded water depth). Property owners near rivers and within designated high-risk zones should pay the closest attention to flood preparedness.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
7% of Carver County’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 3 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 1993, with 23 claims and $22,062 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes & 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.
5 NOAA storm reports from Carver County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Minnesota flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 16, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jun 11, 2014 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 16, 2011 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Sep 22, 2010 |
| Flooding | Mar 1, 2010 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Mar 23, 2001 |
| Severe Storms, Straight Line Winds, And Tornadoes | May 15, 1998 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
32 since 1996: 17 flash floods and 15 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 17, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 9, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2014 | — |
| Flood | Jun 18, 2014 | $9.2M |
| Flash Flood | Jun 23, 2013 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 27, 2012 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2012 | — |
| Flood | Mar 23, 2011 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 17, 2019. There were many factors that led to a severe Spring flood melt along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers and several of their tributaries during the last two weeks of March. The first factor was above average snowpack, especially over the Minnesota River Valley for mid March. Additionally, the added effect of a cold late Winter kept this snowpack deeper into the early Spring. Once temperatures warmed, and snow be…
Flash Flood · Jun 9, 2018. A complex of storms moved from South Dakota, eastward into southern Minnesota the morning of Saturday, June 9th. Rainfall rates were nearly 2 inches per hour as thunderstorms began to train along the Minnesota River around Belle Plaine and Carver. A few local private rain gauges and radar estimates reported nearly 3 to 4 inches of rain within two hours around Carver. A Twitter picture was sent that provided detail…
Flash Flood · Jun 19, 2014. Several rounds of thunderstorms developed across western and southern Minnesota during the late evening and early morning hours of Thursday, June 19th, and moved eastward through the mid morning hours. Although some of the thunderstorms did produced wind damage near Wintrop, most of the damage was associated with extreme rainfall rates, where flash flooding caused mud slides, road closures, and inundated communiti…
Flood · Jun 18, 2014. Several rounds of thunderstorms began during the week of June 14th, and continued through most of the week with areas of flash flooding. The flash flooding evolved into areal flooding, and then main-stem river flooding which continued through the end of the month. The hardest hit areas were from New Ulm to Mankato, northeast through the length of the Minnesota River, and the Twin Cities Metro area which had major…
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 Carver County 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.