484 flood insurance claims·$4.4M paid·5 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 Scott 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.
River flooding and general floods, alongside flash floods, define the flood character of Scott County, with NOAA records detailing 59 flood events and 22 flash flood events over the last 30 years. Heavy rainfall and severe weather outbreaks produce significant hazards across the region, as demonstrated on May 26, 2024, when a shortwave trough and bowing storm line moved across southeast Missouri. Additionally, above-normal April rainfall led to elevated river levels on the Mississippi River, extending minor flood conditions at Chester and Cape Girardeau through the first three weeks of May 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that flood losses concentrate heavily in high-risk areas. Zone A properties experienced the vast majority of claims with 408 filings, averaging a payout of $13,148 and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Properties located in moderate-to-low risk zones, including Zone X_SHADED, Zone UNKNOWN, Zone X, and Zone X_UNSHADED, recorded fewer claims—ranging from 10 to 26 claims—with average payouts between $5,410 and $11,176, and average recorded water depths of 2 to 3 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents with properties in Zone A should pay the most attention to flood risk given the higher frequency and severity of past claims in this zone.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
8% of Scott County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
444 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 8 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 2011, with 99 claims and $1.1M paid, the year of Severe Winter Storm 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.
30 NOAA storm reports from Scott County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Missouri flood stories →
30 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 16, 2025 |
| 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, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 29, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 11, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | Apr 28, 2017 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
81 since 1996: 22 flash floods and 59 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jul 18, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jul 6, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 3, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Feb 15, 2025. Showers and thunderstorms produced heavy rainfall (2-5) as they streamed northeast across southeast Missouri in the afternoon and evening of the 15th. The greatest rainfall amounts were near the Mississippi River in New Madrid and Mississippi counties. Minor flooding of city streets occurred in the city of New Madrid and along numerous state highways and county Roads. The heavy rain caused a retaining wall to coll…
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…
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 · Jul 18, 2024. Torrential rainfall in Southwest Illinois on July 16th resulted in water levels at Thebes briefly returning to minor flood, with limited impacts to low-lying agricultural areas.
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 Scott 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.