7 flood insurance claims·$32,464 paid·5 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 Wadena 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.
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 2009, with 3 claims and $23,860 paid, the year of Severe Storms 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.
9 NOAA storm reports from Wadena County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Minnesota flood stories →
15 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 29, 2022 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jun 11, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 17, 2010 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 16, 2009 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Flooding, High Winds,severe Storms | Mar 21, 1997 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Jan 3, 1997 |
| Severe Thunderstorms, Winds, Flooding, Tornadoes, And Heat | Jul 9, 1995 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
14 since 1996: 10 flash floods and 4 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2018 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2018 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 11, 2016 | $2,000 |
| Flood | Jul 11, 2014 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Sep 4, 2014 | — |
| Flood | May 27, 2012 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2011 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 2010 | $10,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 17, 2018. During the evening of June 16th, a weak frontal boundary stretched north-northeast from Watertown in South Dakota, up through Wadena and International Falls in Minnesota. Along the boundary in west central Minnesota, surface dew points held in the lower 70s with precipitable water values around 1.50 inches. Thunderstorms flared up during the evening and produced a few damaging wind gusts in addition to a band of f…
Flash Flood · Jul 11, 2016. By the early evening of July 11th, surface low pressure was located over northeast South Dakota, with a warm front extending out to the east into Minnesota. Slow moving thunderstorms formed north of the warm front and dropped large amounts of rain. Other thunderstorms formed later, along a line from Jamestown to Devils Lake to Rock Lake. One storm along this line produced strong winds from Langdon to Walhalla, in…
Flood · Jul 11, 2014. Persistent thunderstorms formed over west central Minnesota on the evening of the 11th, fed by strong moisture transport from the south-southwest. The heaviest rain fell along the U. S. Highway 10 corridor, from Perham to New York Mills to Wadena. The most rain fell at Wadena, where eight inches was reported. This resulted in basement, street, and trailer park flooding.
Flood · Sep 4, 2014. By the early morning hours of the 4th, an area of surface low pressure had moved into northeast South Dakota, with a warm front extending out to the east. Surface dew point values north of the front ranged in the lower 60s while south of the front they topped out around 70. At 850 millibars, the low level jet pushed juicy air up into southeast North Dakota and west central Minnesota, with drier air to the north. F…
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 Wadena 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.