3 flood insurance claims·$48,137 paid·3 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 Pontotoc 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 storm systems dominates the flood history of Pontotoc County, MS. Over the last 30 years, NOAA records show 30 flash flood events, alongside 3 general flood events and 1 tropical storm event.
Recent occurrences illustrate these patterns. Heavy rainfall and training storms produced flash flooding on April 5, 2025, associated with strong low-level moisture transport across the region. Another significant flash flood event occurred on March 24, 2023, driven by a low pressure system tracking along a quasi-stationary boundary. Earlier, severe thunderstorm development brought flash flooding on March 15, 2025, supported by increasing moisture advection ahead of an approaching cold front.
NFIP historical records show claims filed in Zone X, with an average payout of $16,046 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay attention to properties vulnerable to sudden, intense rainfall accumulation, even outside mapped high-risk riverine flood zones.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 2 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 1 claims and $41,323 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding and Severe Storm, 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.
14 NOAA storm reports from Pontotoc County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Mississippi flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1971, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Hurricane Ida | Aug 28, 2021 |
| Severe Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Oct 26, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Feb 22, 2019 |
| Hurricane Gustav | Aug 28, 2008 |
| Hurricane Katrina | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Hurricane Dennis | Jul 10, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And High Winds | May 5, 2003 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
34 since 1996: 30 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Mar 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 24, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 9, 2021 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 9, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 8, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2020 | $200,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Mar 15, 2025. An upper low over the Central Plains moved into the Upper Mississippi Valley during the evening hours of Friday, March 14, 2025. Increasing moisture advection ahead of an approaching cold front lifted dewpoints into the low to mid 60s. This coupled with increasing height falls and a mid-level 80 knot jet rotating around the main upper low supported severe thunderstorm development. Large looping hodographs, MLCAPE…
Flash Flood · Apr 5, 2025. The front eventually sagged south back into the Mid-South during the early morning hours of April 5th. Strong low-level moisture transport into the frontal zone resulted in heavy rain and training storms across northern sections of the Mid-South, mainly north of I-40. A bow echo developed along and just south of the slowly advancing front. This feature crossed the entire forecast area producing 13 tornadoes, inclu…
Flash Flood · Mar 24, 2023. The first significant event to produce widespread severe weather across the Mid-South for 2023 occurred on March 24, during the afternoon and evening hours. This severe weather episode occurred mainly over portions of the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys. Surface analysis for this day depicted a quasi-stationary boundary from the Mid-Atlantic States and Ohio Valley through northern portions of West Tenness…
Flash Flood · Jun 9, 2021. An upper low continued to meander across the region on June 9, 2021. Weak upper-level disturbances rotated around the upper low and interacted with a very moist air mass across the Mid-South to produce several rounds of heavy rain across East-Central Arkansas and North Mississippi. There were several instances of flash flooding.
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 Pontotoc 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.