4 flood insurance claims·$7,075 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 Liberty County, Montana. 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.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 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.
1 NOAA storm reports from Liberty County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Montana flood stories →
10 federal disaster declarations since 1986, 2 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Flooding | Apr 12, 2018 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Apr 15, 2016 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 4, 2011 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 8, 2002 |
| Wildfires | Jul 13, 2000 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Ice Jams, Soil Saturation | Mar 1, 1996 |
| Heavy Rains, Landslides & Flooding | Feb 24, 1986 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
2 since 1996: 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 7, 2023 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Apr 18, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Apr 7, 2023. Unseasonably warm temperatures occurred in the first two weeks of April, with highs near 80 degrees occurring at times. These warm temps, along with occasional rain, resulted in melting of a deep snowpack on top of frozen ground which led to significant runoff into area waterways. Moderate to major flooding occurred along portions of the Milk River and its tributaries. Impactful snowmelt flooding also occurred acr…
Flood · Apr 18, 2018. A large amount of runoff from the melting of a significant snowpack contributed to prolonged flooding along the Milk River and its tributaries during mid to late April 2018.
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 Liberty 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.