123 flood insurance claims·$5.4M 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 Carter County, Missouri. 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 and standard flooding occur with nearly equal frequency in Carter County, driven by 30 flash flood events, including 1 recorded death, and 32 general flood events over the last 30 years. Heavy rainfall events are frequently produced by slow-moving frontal boundaries and severe weather outbreaks. For example, a severe weather outbreak on May 26, 2024, brought heavy rainfall and flooding to the region, while multiple rounds of training heavy rain from November 4 through 6, 2024, dropped 4 to 6 inches of rainfall in Carter County, causing street flooding in Van Buren and affecting water levels on the Current and St. Francis Rivers. A separate event on September 23, 2025, produced heavy rains and flooding in southeastern Carter County.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, with the highest volume concentrated in Zone A with 90 claims averaging a $40,260 payout and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Properties outside mapped high-risk areas also face financial exposure, notably in Zone X, where 6 claims averaged a $210,262 payout and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches, and unshaded Zone X, where 8 claims averaged a $137,741 payout with an average water depth of 6 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 19 claims with an average payout of $23,144 and an average water depth of 8 inches. Property owners in Zone A, as well as owners of higher-value structures in Zone X and unshaded Zone X experiencing deep inundation, should pay the closest attention to these flood risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
8% of Carter County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
98 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 2017, with 32 claims and $4.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, 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.
32 NOAA storm reports from Carter County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Missouri flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1976, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 30, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Wildfires | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Nov 3, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 3, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | Apr 28, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 22, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 19, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
62 since 1996: 30 flash floods and 32 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 23, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Nov 6, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 4, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 24, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Feb 8, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 20, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 23, 2025. A boundary stretching across portions of Southeast Missouri resulted in thunderstorms with heavy rain during the early morning hours of the 23rd from Carter County southeastward to New Madrid. A broader area of rainfall arrived late morning which produced additional heavy rains. Flooding issues developed in Southeastern Carter County which received some of the higher totals from both rounds. Precipitable water val…
Flash Flood · May 26, 2024. The second major severe weather outbreak for the month occurred on the 26th for the Quad State region. On the synoptic scale, a shortwave trough centered in the middle of the country with a 60 kt mid-level jet moved across northern Arkansas. A weak surface low was moving into SE Missouri during the morning with a secondary low located further northwest. A warm frontal boundary was draped across our area. A bowing…
Flood · May 26, 2024. The second major severe weather outbreak for the month occurred on the 26th for the Quad State region. On the synoptic scale, a shortwave trough centered in the middle of the country with a 60 kt mid-level jet moved across northern Arkansas. A weak surface low was moving into SE Missouri during the morning with a secondary low located further northwest. A warm frontal boundary was draped across our area. A bowing…
Flood · Nov 6, 2024. Multiple rounds of training heavy rain along a slow moving frontal boundary affected Southern and Eastern Missouri from the 4th through the 6th of November. Western fringes of the WFO Paducah county warning area in Carter County received 4-6 inches of rainfall in this span. Many locations further west and north from West Plains to Hillsboro in Missouri reached 7 to 10 inches of rainfall. Street flooding was report…
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 Carter 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.