4,592 flood insurance claims·$69.0M paid·7 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 Jefferson 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 from heavy rainfall events dominates the flood risk profile in Jefferson County, Missouri, accounting for 41 events and 4 deaths over the last 30 years compared to 15 riverine flood events and 2 deaths. Recent historical events illustrate this severe hazard, including heavy rainfall from a stationary front on April 4, 2025, that left numerous roads impassable across the St. Louis metropolitan area. Additionally, a slow-moving cluster of storms on July 28, 2022, dropped up to five inches of rain in a short period over soil already saturated from catastrophic flash flooding two days prior.
National Flood Insurance Program records demonstrate that properties inside mapped high-risk areas bear the brunt of these impacts. Zone A properties account for 3,565 historical claims with an average payout of $18,462 and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches. However, properties outside standard high-risk zones also experience significant vulnerabilities; claims in Zone X average $27,661 with an average water depth of 9 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED claims average $17,683 with an average water depth of 9 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in Zone A and Zone X designations, where historical insurance payouts and recorded water depths confirm substantial flood exposure.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of Jefferson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
4,026 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 1993, with 792 claims and $15.0M paid, the year of Severe Storms & Flooding and Severe Storms, Tornadoes, 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 Jefferson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Missouri flood stories →
30 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Wildfires | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 29, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | Apr 28, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 23, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 15, 2015 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 31, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 8, 2009 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 26, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
56 since 1996: 41 flash floods and 15 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 4, 2024 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2022 | $120,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 29, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 25, 2021 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 4, 2025. A stationary front over southern Missouri along with ample mid-level forcing, moisture, and efficient rain processes resulted in flooding across portions of east-central and southeast Missouri. Numerous roads across the St. Louis metropolitan area were impassable due to the heavy rainfall.
Flash Flood · Nov 4, 2024. Overnight on Sunday, November 3rd, a shield of rain and thunderstorms moved into the bi-state area. By Monday morning, persistent rainfall resulted in fatal flash flooding in southeast Missouri, with one fatality occurring in Iron County. Later on Monday evening, a QLCS produced two EF-0 tornadoes in east-central Missouri and shifted the axis of heaviest rain to the north. Due to the shift northward, record rainfa…
Flash Flood · Jul 28, 2022. A cluster of showers and thunderstorms, extending from St. Louis metro area to southeastern Missouri, moved eastward through the afternoon and early evening hours. With precipitable water values over 2 inches and warm cloud depths up to 14,000 feet thick, these storms produced very heavy rainfall, up to five inches, in a short period of time, between 2 pm and 7 pm on July 28th. Also, the soil in the area was quite…
Flash Flood · Aug 3, 2022. During the afternoon hours of August 3rd, numerous thunderstorms developed across parts of eastern Missouri and west-central Illinois, triggered by strong surface heating ahead of a surging outflow boundary. These storms developed within a strongly unstable environment, featuring MLCAPE values ranging from 2500 to as much as 4000 J/kg and largely driven by the very warm and humid boundary layer. The initial round…
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 Jefferson 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.