117 flood insurance claims·$1.1M 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 Scott 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.
Scott County experiences an even distribution of riverine flooding and flash flooding, with 16 flood events and 16 flash flood events recorded over the last 30 years in the NOAA Storm Events Database. Severe spring snowmelt along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers and their tributaries, such as the event in March 2019, combined deep winter snowpack with subsequent warming and storms. Additionally, intense summer storms produced heavy rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour, leading to flash flooding that evolved into main-stem river flooding, as occurred in June 2014.
Federal flood insurance claims data shows that properties in Special Flood Hazard Area Zone A bear the heaviest burden, recording 87 claims with an average payout of $16,391 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 16 claims with an average payout of $9,810 and a higher average recorded water depth of 17 inches. Zone X shaded and unshaded areas, along with unknown zones, accounted for a smaller number of claims with lower average payouts and average water depths of 1 inch.
Homeowners and real estate agents situated in Zone A river-adjacent areas and Zone X locations—where claims showed deeper average water intrusion—should pay the most attention to flood risk in Scott County.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of Scott County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
98 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 5 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 2014, with 26 claims and $362,040 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides.
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.
7 NOAA storm reports from Scott County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Minnesota flood stories →
16 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 12, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jun 11, 2014 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 16, 2011 |
| 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 |
| Severe Flooding, High Winds,severe Storms | Mar 21, 1997 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
32 since 1996: 16 flash floods and 16 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 14, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 10, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2014 | — |
| Flood | Jun 18, 2014 | $9.0M |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2013 | $500,000 |
| Flood | Mar 21, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2010 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 14, 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 · Aug 16, 2017. A band of heavy rain developed along a warm front that lifted north through southern and central Minnesota during the afternoon and early evening of August 16. Small low-topped supercells developed within the band and produced numerous tornadoes. In addition, a large circulation was noted in southwest Minnesota during the late evening, early morning hours. This circulation produced isolated severe wind gusts near…
Flash Flood · Aug 10, 2016. Several waves of thunderstorms moved across central and southern Minnesota, and into west central Wisconsin between the late afternoon of Wednesday, August 10th, through Thursday morning, August 11th. A few of the storms produced large hail and severe wind gusts as several bow echoes formed. However, the main hazard became the extremely heavy rainfall with bouts of rainfall rates as high as 2 to 3 inches per hour.…
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…
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 Scott 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.