102 flood insurance claims·$1.1M 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 Stoddard 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 from storms dominate the recorded flood history of Stoddard County, with NOAA Storm Events data recording 36 flash flood events and 26 general flood events, including 1 death, over the last 30 years. Recent regional events include severe weather and heavy rainfall outbreaks on February 15, 2025, and May 26, 2024, which brought heavy rain and localized flooding to southeast Missouri.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that historical payouts and water depths vary significantly by flood zone. Properties located in high-risk Zone A experienced the highest claim volume with 78 claims, averaging $12,819 per payout and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Zone X properties recorded 11 claims with an average payout of $7,362 and an average water depth of 7 inches, while properties with unknown zones recorded 9 claims averaging $23,052 with an average water depth of 13 inches. Unshaded Zone X properties logged 4 claims with an average payout of $12,586 and an average water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within FEMA Zone A, which accounts for the vast majority of insurance claims in the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Stoddard County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
82 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 5 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 48 claims and $598,171 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.
31 NOAA storm reports from Stoddard County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Missouri flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 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, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 3, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 29, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 23, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 29, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 19, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
62 since 1996: 36 flash floods and 26 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jun 5, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2023 | $60,000 |
| Flood | Mar 6, 2022 | — |
— = 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…
Flash Flood · May 16, 2024. A stalled out boundary late evening on the 16th resulted in continued heavy rainfall from central Butler County to central Scott County with the longest duration heavy rainfall rates located between Dudley and Bloomfield in Stoddard County. Rainfall amounts of 2-4 inches occurred in that area within 3 hours, resulting in 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 Stoddard 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.