141 flood insurance claims·$3.3M 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 Park 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.
Less than 1% of Park County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
120 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 6 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 1997, with 64 claims and $585,672 paid, the year of Severe Storms,ice Jams, Snow Melt, 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.
2 NOAA storm reports from Park County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Montana flood stories →
13 federal disaster declarations since 1996, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Flooding | Apr 10, 2023 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Jun 10, 2022 |
| Flooding | Mar 20, 2019 |
| Flooding | May 1, 2018 |
| Ice Jams And Flooding | Mar 1, 2014 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 4, 2011 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Mt - South Central Zone 4 Fire Complex | Aug 16, 2000 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
7 since 1996: 1 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 25, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 27, 2014 | — |
| Flood | Mar 5, 2014 | — |
| Flood | May 24, 2011 | $130,000 |
| Flood | Jun 12, 2011 | — |
| Flood | May 10, 2011 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 12, 2001 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 25, 2019. Flooding occurred across many areas of south central and southeast Montana during the latter portions of the month. A considerable snow cover existed through the month. Surface and sub-surface ground temperatures remained frozen through the last week of March. Warming temperatures resulted in this snow to quickly melt. Widespread flooding occurred due to the snow melt not being able to soak into the ground. In ad…
Flood · May 27, 2014. The snowpack during most of the month of May was around 150% of average. There was significant melting of the snowpack below 8000 feet during the month. The melting snowpack resulted in rising river levels and river flooding. The main impacts of the high river flows were fast flows, low-land flooding and bank erosion.
Flood · Mar 5, 2014. After a very cold winter resulting in area rivers, streams and creeks freezing, early March began with some heavy snow followed by a rapid warm-up. This warm-up resulted in snowmelt and ice-jam flooding over area rivers, creeks and streams that continued into the middle of the month. While many areas experienced flooding, the locations that were most impacted by flooding included Park County, areas along the Musse…
Flood · May 24, 2011. A Pacific low moved into the four corners region on the 17th and migrated northeast into the Dakotas through the 22nd, bringing another round of heavy precipitation aided by a tap of Gulf of Mexico moisture. Another system passed to the south on the 23rd and 24th, continuing the precipitation across the area. A new all-time daily precipitation record for Billings was set on May 24th. These two systems brought a to…
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 Park 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.