25 flood insurance claims·$282,462 paid·4 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 Adams County, Nebraska. 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 general flooding from slow-moving storms and persistent rainfall dominate the flood history of Adams County, Nebraska. Over a 30-year period, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 13 flash flood events and 11 flood events. Recent activity includes a slow-moving front in May 2021 that produced severe thunderstorms and heavy rain. Additionally, persistent rainfall from a slow-moving upper low-pressure system in May 2020 caused flooding, with the worst impacts occurring near the Crystal Lake Recreation Area, while heavy rain from multiple thunderstorm episodes in May 2019 resulted in widespread flooding of low-lying areas, fields, creeks, and rivers, including rainfall totals reaching 5.43 inches at Harvard.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims distributed across multiple zones, with Zone A recording 9 claims with an average payout of $2,792 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 7 claims averaging $2,241 with an average water depth of 3 inches, and Zone X recorded 5 claims averaging $65,160 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone X_SHADED and Zone X_UNSHADED each recorded 2 claims with an average payout of $0 and an average water depth of 0 inches. Property owners in Zone A, Zone X, and unmapped areas should pay the closest attention to flood risk given the documented claim history across these designations.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 2 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 1978, with 5 claims and $12,773 paid.
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.
22 NOAA storm reports from Adams County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 9, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 6, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Winter Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Oct 2, 2013 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 1, 2010 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 22, 2009 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 22, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Dec 19, 2006 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
24 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 11 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 2, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 25, 2020 | $100,000 |
| Flood | May 22, 2020 | $200,000 |
| Flood | May 27, 2019 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Aug 23, 2019 | $125,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 8, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Flood | Sep 2, 2018 | $20,000 |
| Flood | Aug 29, 2016 | $225,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 2, 2021. Slow moving front brought severe thunderstorms, including landspouts, and heavy rain to portions of south central Nebraska during the evening of May 2nd. A line of thunderstorms blossomed along a stationary front between 6-8PM CDT from southern Gosper County E to Adams County, then NE to Polk County. Once this activity developed, it remained nearly stationary until around 10PM CDT when an upper level disturbance a…
Flash Flood · May 25, 2020. Thunderstorms brought heavy rain and a landspout to portions of south central Nebraska the evening of Sunday, May 24 into the early morning hours of Memorial Day, Monday, May 25.||Just after 6 PM CDT Sunday evening, weak thundershowers began developing along a frontal boundary that was located from near Stockton, KS to Red Cloud, NE to Shelby, NE. One of these weak thundershowers managed to spawn a landspout torna…
Flood · May 22, 2020. Persistent rainfall from a potent, slow moving upper low pressure system led to heavy rain and isolated flooding across south central Nebraska heading into the Memorial Day Holiday weekend. The worst of the flooding occurred near the Crystal Lake Recreation Area in Adams County, but pockets of minor/brief flooding were noted in and around Kearney as well.||Rain first moved into the area during the early morning ho…
Flood · May 27, 2019. Widespread flooding of low-lying areas, fields, creeks, and rivers continued. A large area of heavy rain fell due to multiple thunderstorm episodes on the nights of the 26th and 27th, and resulted in 3 to 5 inch totals over much of south central Nebraska. The swath of greatest rainfall amounts extended from Alma to Hastings to Columbus. This swath was surrounded by rainfall totals of 1 to 2 inches. The highest amo…
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 Adams 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.