155 flood insurance claims·$2.6M paid·2 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 Madison 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 summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Madison County, Missouri, accounting for 23 of the 25 recorded flood events and two fatalities over the last 30 years. Recent events illustrate this pattern, including flash flooding caused by slow-moving thunderstorms on July 7, 2025, and training thunderstorms driven by an unstable airmass on August 4, 2023.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend beyond high-risk areas. Properties in Zone A experienced the highest volume of claims at 95, with an average payout of $19,949 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. However, properties in shaded and unshaded Zone X sectors also experienced significant impacts, logging 38 claims averaging $13,732 with an average water depth of 2 inches, and 14 claims averaging $25,460 with an average water depth of 4 inches, respectively.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within both designated high-risk flood zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas, where localized heavy rainfall frequently produces damaging water accumulation.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
35% of Madison County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
147 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 3 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 1999, with 59 claims and $1.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms 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.
8 NOAA storm reports from Madison County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Missouri flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 2 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, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jul 29, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 10, 2021 |
| 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.
25 since 1996: 23 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 7, 2025 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 4, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 4, 2022 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 29, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 13, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 7, 2025. Showers and thunderstorms initiated along and ahead of a quasi-stationary boundary during the afternoon of July 7th. The environment was characterized by high moisture and instability and weak shear, leading to gusty winds being the primary threat for the day. Thunderstorms overperformed, producing isolated wind damage and flash flooding.
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 · Aug 14, 2023. A large complex of storms moved south across southeast Missouri with very heavy rainfall. Some flash flooding was reported in southern Madison County.
Flash Flood · Aug 4, 2023. A very unstable airmass with numerous sources of lift culminated in a line of training thunderstorms during the early morning hours of August 4th. This resulted in flash flooding and wind damage in portions of southeast Missouri.
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 Madison 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.