7 flood insurance claims·$38,098 paid·6 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 Pope 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.
Flash flooding from summer thunderstorms and spring snowmelt events dominate the flood profile of Pope County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 11 flash flood events and 6 general flood events.
Historical events illustrate these risks. In April 2023, a near-record snowfall season with high snow-water-equivalent values led to an accelerated spring melt driven by temperatures reaching the 60s and 70s. In August 2011, severe thunderstorms produced heavy rainfall and flooding near Glenwood, Starbuck, and around Alexandria.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across different zones with varying impacts. Properties in Zone X recorded 5 claims with an average payout of $10,751 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Properties in Zone A recorded 2 claims with an average payout of $2,922 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners, journalists, and real estate agents evaluating properties in both moderate-to-low risk Zone X and high-risk Zone A should pay close attention to these historical claim patterns and water depth averages when assessing local flood exposure.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
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 2013, with 2 claims and $17,847 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, 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.
2 NOAA storm reports from Pope County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Minnesota flood stories →
16 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 11, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 29, 2022 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 20, 2013 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 16, 2009 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Mar 23, 2001 |
| Severe Flooding, High Winds,severe Storms | Mar 21, 1997 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Jan 3, 1997 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
17 since 1996: 11 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 11, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 21, 2013 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 20, 2013 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 1, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2010 | — |
| Flood | Mar 23, 2009 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2005 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 25, 2005 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Apr 11, 2023. A near-record snowfall season across Minnesota and Wisconsin led to a snowpack with snow-water-equivilent (SWE) values of 4 to 6 inches across much of the region by mid-March. Below normal temperatures for the first of of spring kept much of the snowpack in tact until the end of the month when it started to melt.||The melt accelerated in early April. On April 08, highs were in the 60s across the region. On April 0…
Flash Flood · Jun 21, 2013. Several rounds of thunderstorms developed Thursday late afternoon and evening, June 20th, mostly in west central Minnesota, and moved eastward. These storms produced some penny to quarter size hail, but the main event was damaging straight line winds and torrential rainfall during the late evening and overnight period. These storms moved across central and east central Minnesota after midnight, with some redevelop…
Flash Flood · Jun 20, 2013. Several rounds of thunderstorms developed Thursday late afternoon and evening, June 20th, mostly in west central Minnesota, and moved eastward. These storms produced some penny to quarter size hail, but the main event was damaging straight line winds and torrential rainfall during the late evening and overnight period. These storms moved across central and east central Minnesota after midnight, with some redevelop…
Flash Flood · Aug 1, 2011. Severe thunderstorms moved from the area west of Alexandria, southeast to the Twin Cities on Monday, August 1st. Most of the damage occurred in the morning around Alexandria, Starbuck and Glenwood, along with very heavy rainfall and flooding near Glenwood, Minnesota. There was some decrease in the thunderstorm intensity during the late morning, but they re-intensified by the early afternoon west of the Twin Cities…
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 Pope 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.