67 flood insurance claims·$791,811 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 Jefferson 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 floods and tropical systems drive the flood risk in Jefferson County, which recorded 16 flash flood events, 4 tropical storms, 3 floods, and 2 hurricanes over the last 30 years according to NOAA data.
Severe weather impacts are illustrated by major events such as the slow-moving remnants of Hurricane Ida in August 2021, which brought tropical storm-force gusts and downed trees to the region. Additionally, a warm front and anomalous moisture produced widespread heavy rainfall between 2 and 6 inches, resulting in flash flooding across saturated soils on January 14, 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, led by Zone A with 47 claims averaging $15,001 and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Properties in Zone X also recorded claims, averaging $12,589 with an average water depth of 6 inches, while claims in Zone UNKNOWN averaged $3,449 with an average depth of 2 inches. Homeowners in Zone A and Zone X should pay the closest attention to flood risks given the historical claim distributions and recorded water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Jefferson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
47 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 9 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 2011, with 13 claims and $394,120 paid, the year of 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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Jefferson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes. | Jun 14, 2023 |
| Hurricane Ida | Aug 28, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Hurricane Delta | Oct 7, 2020 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Hurricane Marco And Tropical Storm Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 30, 2017 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
25 since 1996: 16 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 30, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 30, 2021 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 14, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Mar 28, 2014 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 9, 2014 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 10, 2013 | $5,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 29, 2012 | $100,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 30, 2024. Thunderstorms affected portions of Mississippi on the 20th and 30th. Isolated damaging winds and flash flooding occurred.
Tropical Storm · 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 · Jan 14, 2020. A warm front was situated across southern Mississippi during the evening of January 13th. This, combined with a passing disturbance and anomalous moisture, supported numerous thunderstorms and heavy rainfall that produced widespread rainfall between 2 and 6 inches with the heavies corridor right across the central portion of the forecast area. This resulted in widespread flash flooding across the region as this ad…
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2020. Hurricane Delta made landfall along the southwest Louisiana Gulf Coast around 5:00 p.m. CDT on October 9th and moved to the northeast across southwest and central Mississippi. Heavy rainfall saturated and loosened soils, allowing for many trees to be blown down even as the hurricane weakened into a tropical storm and then tropical depression. Some of the trees fell onto and damaged homes and power lines in the reg…
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 Jefferson 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.