1 flood insurance claims·$1,561 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 Clay 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.
13 NOAA storm reports from Clay County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
19 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Mar 18, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 19, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jul 9, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 9, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Apr 13, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 6, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 11, 2014 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 22, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
13 since 1996: 8 flash floods and 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2020 | — |
| Flood | May 27, 2019 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 2, 2018 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Jun 4, 2015 | $250,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 14, 2012 | $8,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 3, 2012 | $25,000 |
| Flood | May 19, 2011 | $15,000 |
| Flood | Aug 26, 2009 | $30,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 16, 2020. On this late Sunday afternoon and evening, several scattered, strong to severe storms advanced southward across various portions of South Central Nebraska, prompting many accounts of large hail and a few damaging wind gusts. While most hail was in the quarter to golf ball size range, larger stones of 2-3 diameter fell in the Chapman and Marquette areas of Merrick/Hamilton counties. Ping pong to golf ball size hail…
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…
Flash Flood · Sep 2, 2018. A mesoscale convective system produced pockets of high winds and wind damage just after midnight on this Saturday morning. During the evening hours of Friday, scattered small clusters of multi-cell thunderstorms occurred over southwest Nebraska and northwest Kansas. The clusters over southwest Nebraska were moving to the east and the clusters over northwest Kansas were moving northeast. Between 10 and 11 PM CST, a…
Flood · Jun 4, 2015. For the third consecutive night, this time from the evening of Thursday the 4th into the early morning of Friday the 5th, several rounds of thunderstorms rumbled across much of the 24-county South Central Nebraska area. And for the second straight night, the majority of storms concentrated within the southeastern half of the area. Although the first few hours of evening convection yielded several hail reports up t…
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 Clay 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.