121 flood insurance claims·$1.3M 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 Clay County, Mississippi. 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 severe weather events dominates the flood history of Clay County, accounting for 23 of the 30-year recorded storm events alongside impacts from tropical systems and hurricanes. Recent weather impacts include a severe thunderstorm and flash flood outbreak on May 4, 2021, featuring damaging winds and tornadoes, as well as remnants of Hurricane Ida bringing tropical depression conditions and associated flooding on August 30, 2021. Additional severe storm and flash flood activity occurred on January 11, 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks affect properties across multiple zones, with the highest concentration of claims occurring in Zone A with 81 claims averaging a $16,578 payout and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Properties located in Zone X_SHADED recorded 17 claims averaging a $12,535 payout and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Zone X recorded 11 claims averaging a $7,466 payout and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 11 claims averaging a $2,168 payout and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 1 claim with a $2,051 payout and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners in Zone A and shaded or unshaded X zones should pay the closest attention to these risks given the recorded claim histories and water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
26% of Clay County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
109 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 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 2019, with 23 claims and $471,645 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding and Severe Storms, Tornadoes, 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.
18 NOAA storm reports from Clay County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Hurricane Ida | Aug 28, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 12, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Feb 10, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jan 10, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 13, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Feb 22, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
28 since 1996: 23 flash floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2021 | $25,000 |
| Tropical Depression | Aug 30, 2021 | $75,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 4, 2021 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 18, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 18, 2020 | $7,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 11, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 11, 2020 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Oct 30, 2019 | $5,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 30, 2021. Major hurricane Ida made landfall as a strong category four hurricane around 11:55am on August 29 near Grand Isle, LA. It then moved very slowly north through south central Louisiana and into Mississippi on August 30. It then turned northeast and moved across the Jackson metro area as a tropical storm and into northeast Mississippi as a tropical depression through the early morning of August 31. Ida brought tropic…
Tropical Depression · Aug 30, 2021. Major hurricane Ida made landfall as a strong category four hurricane around 11:55am on August 29 near Grand Isle, LA. It then moved very slowly north through south central Louisiana and into Mississippi on August 30. It then turned northeast and moved across the Jackson metro area as a tropical storm and into northeast Mississippi as a tropical depression through the early morning of August 31. Ida brought tropic…
Flash Flood · May 4, 2021. An outbreak of severe thunderstorms occurred on May 4th. An initial round of supercell thunderstorms that morning brought several brief tornadoes to the area along with a few instances of damaging winds. The main round of storms occurred during the afternoon in the form of an intense line of storms. Widespread wind damage occurred with embedded swaths of significant damaging winds up to 80 mph. This resulted in nu…
Flash Flood · Feb 18, 2020. A cold front sank very slowly south into the northern parts of the ArkLaMiss. With abundant moisture in place, storms moved repeatedly over the same locations. This resulted in flash flooding for locations generally along and north of the Highway 82 corridor.
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 Clay 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.