190 flood insurance claims·$4.3M 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 Pike 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 storms and tropical systems dominates the flood risk profile in Pike County, based on thirty years of NOAA storm event data that records thirteen flash floods alongside multiple tropical storms, hurricanes, and tropical depressions. Recent damaging events include a flash flood caused by a stalled frontal boundary in March 2024 and severe impacts from Hurricane Ida in August 2021, as well as tropical storms Delta and Zeta in October 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating that flood risk extends beyond designated high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 81 claims with an average payout of $16,253 and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches. Zone X properties experienced 47 claims with a higher average payout of $70,138 and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches, while properties with an unknown zone status recorded 50 claims averaging $6,788 with an average water depth of 4 inches. Shaded Zone X logged 7 claims averaging $3,657 with an average water depth of 4 inches, and unshaded Zone X recorded 5 claims averaging $18,824 with an average water depth of 6 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where claims data demonstrate significant financial loss and measurable water depths from both localized flash flooding and widespread tropical weather events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
13% of Pike County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
93 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 12 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 20 claims and $146,069 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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Pike County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
34 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 11 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 14, 2025 |
| 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 22, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
23 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Mar 8, 2024 | — |
| Hurricane (Typhoon) | Aug 29, 2021 | $1.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 28, 2020 | $50,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 9, 2020 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 12, 2016 | $440,000 |
| Flash Flood | Mar 10, 2016 | $250,000 |
| Flood | Oct 26, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 20, 2014 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Mar 8, 2024. A stalled frontal boundary draped across the local area began to surge northward as cyclogenesis began along the southwest LA coastline. Ample moisture being lifted by this warm front resulted in numerous shower and thunderstorm development. A couple storms we're able to produce severe hail early in the event as storms were discrete. Later those storms congealed into a line which caused flash flooding.
Hurricane (Typhoon) · Aug 29, 2021. The ninth named storm, fourth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, Ida originated from a tropical wave in the Caribbean Sea on August 23rd. On August 26th, the wave developed into a tropical depression, which organized further and became Tropical Storm Ida later that day, near Grand Cayman. On a northwestward track, Ida intensified into a hurricane on August 27, just before…
Tropical Storm · Oct 28, 2020. A tropical depression formed in the northwestern Caribbean on the afternoon of October 24th. 9 hours later, it became the twenty-seventh named storm and eleventh hurricane of the exceptionally active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. After meandering virtually in the same place, it finally began moving northwest and slowly strengthening before making its first landfall on the Yucatan Peninsula on October 26th. Zeta…
Tropical Storm · Oct 9, 2020. Delta first developed into a tropical depression in the Caribbean just south of Jamaica on the afternoon of October 4th. As it tracked across the western Caribbean, it rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane. In fact, intensifying from tropical depression to Category strength in 40 hours is the fastest rate of intensification of any storm on record in the Atlantic Basin. Delta quickly weakened to a categor…
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 Pike 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.