75 flood insurance claims·$514,295 paid·11 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 Lincoln 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 driven by severe weather and thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Lincoln County, accounting for 48 of the 57 total recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside impacts from tropical systems. Recent activity includes training showers and thunderstorms in January 2024 that brought heavy rain and flooding, as well as an active weather pattern with severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall in February 2025. Tropical Storm Francine also brought strong wind damage to the area in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that risk extends across multiple zones, with the highest claim volumes concentrated in designated high-risk and unmapped areas. Zone A accounts for 41 claims with an average payout of $6,604 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, while Zone UNKNOWN represents 23 claims with an average payout of $6,926 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties located in Zone X have recorded an average payout of $40,404 with an average water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in Zone A and unmapped areas, where the vast majority of historical flood insurance claims have occurred.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Lincoln County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
48 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 1979, with 19 claims and $129,101 paid.
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.
30 NOAA storm reports from Lincoln County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
31 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 11 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 |
| Hurricane Delta | Oct 7, 2020 |
| Hurricane Sally | Sep 14, 2020 |
| Hurricane Marco And Tropical Storm Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 9, 2016 |
| Hurricane Isaac | Aug 26, 2012 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
57 since 1996: 48 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Oct 26, 2025 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 12, 2025 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 24, 2024 | $25,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 12, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 8, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2023 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Dec 14, 2022 | $1,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 29, 2021 | $100,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Oct 26, 2025. A line of thunderstorms formed west of the area and moved across Mississippi early in the morning. Some of these thunderstorms produced damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall.
Flash Flood · Feb 12, 2025. An active weather pattern set the stage for a couple rounds of severe weather in mid February. A large upper trough was situated over the Rockies and associated surface lows moved through and just north of the area. This pattern supported thunderstorms across southern portions of the area which produced wind damage and a few tornadoes on February 12th. A more potent system impacted the area on February 15th where…
Flash 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.
Tropical Storm · Sep 12, 2024. Tropical Storm Francine made landfall in southern Louisiana on the evening of September 11th, 2024. The weakening storm produced strong wind damage as it moved across central Mississippi the morning of September 12th, 2024.
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 Lincoln 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.