248 flood insurance claims·$2.4M paid·10 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 Jones 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 and thunderstorms dominates the historical flood profile of Jones County, accounting for 121 out of 148 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside hurricanes that have caused 10 fatalities.
Recent occurrences documented by NOAA include heavy rain and flooding from training showers and thunderstorms in January 2024, as well as strong to severe storms that produced flash flooding from the evening of April 5th into the morning of April 6th, 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that high-risk Zone A areas experienced the highest volume of claims at 135, with an average payout of $11,849 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Meanwhile, moderate-to-low risk Zone X properties filed 42 claims with a higher average payout of $30,122 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches, indicating that property owners outside designated high-risk zones also face significant financial flood impacts. Homeowners in Zone A and Zone X should pay the closest attention to flood preparedness.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
27% of Jones County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
184 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 3 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 2005, with 27 claims and $254,048 paid, the year of Hurricane Dennis and Hurricane Katrina.
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.
63 NOAA storm reports from Jones County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
33 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 10 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 |
| Hurricane Zeta | Oct 27, 2020 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Hurricane Marco And Tropical Storm Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 22, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornado | Dec 27, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
148 since 1996: 121 flash floods and 15 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 6, 2025 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Jun 26, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Jan 24, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Jun 17, 2023 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2023 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 11, 2023 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 24, 2022 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Mar 18, 2022 | $1,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 6, 2025. On the evening of April 5th into the morning of April 6th, strong to severe storms produced tornadoes, damaging winds and flash flooding.
Flood · Jun 26, 2024. A weakening band of strong storms resulted in a lull in activity after morning storms across western and northern Mississippi on June 26th. By afternoon, instability increased allowing new strong, damaging thunderstorms to develop mostly across eastern Mississippi moving from west to east. Wind was the primary damaging hazard though mostly small hail and heavy rain were also present.
Flood · Jan 24, 2024. With an upper-level trough of low pressure situated over Central Plains and a very moist air mass extending north through the Mississippi River Valley, training showers and thunderstorms produced heavy rain and flooding over parts of Mississippi.
Flood · Jun 17, 2023. Convergence of moisture along a stationary front in southern Mississippi triggered thunderstorms during the day on June 17th. With an unstable air mass south of the front and a strong jet stream over the frontal zone sustaining robust updrafts, these storms quickly became severe and moved east-southeast across portions of Mississippi.
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 Jones 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.