6 flood insurance claims·$69,690 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 Renville 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.
Renville County experiences a mix of standard river flooding and sudden flash floods driven by summer thunderstorms and spring snowmelt.
Historical records from the NOAA Storm Events Database detail significant events, including a rapid spring snowmelt in March 2019 caused by above-average winter snowpack and subsequent warming. Another notable event occurred in July 2020, when anomalous moisture with precipitable water values over two inches fueled heavy rainfall and flash flooding across southern Minnesota.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks affect properties across multiple zones. Zone X has recorded five claims with an average payout of $14,423 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Zone A has recorded one claim with an average payout of $12,000 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents managing properties in both moderate-to-low risk Zone X and high-risk Zone A should pay close attention to these localized flood and flash flood hazards.
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 2 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 1997, with 2 claims and $58,358 paid, the year of Severe Winter Storms and Severe Flooding, High Winds,severe Storms.
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.
13 NOAA storm reports from Renville County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Minnesota flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 12 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 16, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 11, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 29, 2022 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 15, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jun 11, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Jul 1, 2011 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 16, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
27 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 14 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 25, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 11, 2023 | $284,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 25, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Mar 17, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2019 | $200,000 |
| Flood | Jul 3, 2018 | $375,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jul 3, 2018 | $250,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 17, 2017 | $325,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 25, 2025. A warm front lifted north into southern Minnesota on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 25th. Strong surface heating to the south of the front with dew points in the 70s allowed for ample instability to develop across the area. Scattered thunderstorms developed in response to the instability and flash flooding occurred in western and east central MN. Strong low-level shear allowed these low-topped supercells to rot…
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 · Jul 25, 2020. A very anomalous moist atmosphere was in place for this flash flood event to develop. Precipitable water values (PWATs) were over 2 inches across southern Minnesota which is well over climatological normals. The 2.25 inches of precipitable water tallied from the 7 PM weather balloon launch at Chanhassen was just below record record levels for the day and was above the 95th percentile for this time of year. ||There…
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…
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 Renville 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.