1,045 flood insurance claims·$14.5M paid·7 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 Douglas 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 from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Douglas County, Nebraska, accounting for 55 events and two deaths alongside 39 general flood events over the last 30 years.
Recent history illustrates this threat, including a slow-moving thunderstorm on July 31, 2025, that dropped rainfall rates of 1.50 to 3.00 inches per hour across the Omaha metropolitan area, and a series of spring events driven by surface boundaries and upper-level troughs, such as those on April 24, 2025, and May 15 and 21, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that property owners in high-risk Zone A should pay the most attention, as this zone accounts for 698 claims with an average payout of $20,849 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Residents in Zone X properties also face significant risk when flooding occurs, recording an average water depth of 24 inches and an average payout of $34,823 across 98 claims.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
10% of Douglas County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
777 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 2019, with 225 claims and $8.3M paid, the year of Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, 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.
56 NOAA storm reports from Douglas County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
29 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Aug 8, 2025 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Mar 18, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jul 31, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 19, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 20, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Apr 25, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jul 9, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 9, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
94 since 1996: 55 flash floods and 39 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 31, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 24, 2025 | $100,000 |
| Flood | Jun 24, 2024 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Jun 22, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 20, 2024 | $75,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 31, 2025. On the morning of July 31, 2025, a slow-moving, efficient rainfall-producing thunderstorm impacted the Omaha metropolitan area. Rainfall rates under the heaviest showers were estimated at 1.50 to 3.00 inches per hour. Radar estimates placed total rainfall between 1.25 and 4.00 inches, with observed reports ranging from 3.15 to 4.03 inches across western portions of the Omaha metro in Douglas and Sarpy Counties. Mu…
Flash Flood · Apr 24, 2025. On April 24, 2025, a vorticity maximum over central Nebraska helped drape a surface front across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa, setting the stage for thunderstorm development throughout the afternoon and evening. Although overall instability was marginal, locally backed surface winds near and just north of the boundary enhanced low-level hodograph curvature, with 0���1 km storm-relative helicity values r…
Flood · Jun 24, 2024. A series of shortwave troughs traversing the northern CONUS brought unsettled weather to the area for the end of June. On the 21st, a stationary front was draped across northeast Nebraska into Iowa. Ahead of one of the aforementioned shortwave troughs, several rounds of strong thunderstorms developed near this frontal zone and moved across northeast Nebraska. At 8 pm on the 21st, radar imagery showed training thun…
Flood · Jun 22, 2024. A series of shortwave troughs traversing the northern CONUS brought unsettled weather to the area for the end of June. On the 21st, a stationary front was draped across northeast Nebraska into Iowa. Ahead of one of the aforementioned shortwave troughs, several rounds of strong thunderstorms developed near this frontal zone and moved across northeast Nebraska. At 8 pm on the 21st, radar imagery showed training thun…
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 Douglas 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.