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FEMA flood zones · Nebraska

Furnas County, Nebraska Flood Zone Map

3 flood insurance claims·$4,118 paid·3 federal flood & hurricane disasters

9% of Furnas County’s area is in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones.

Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.

Coastal high risk (V, VE)FloodwayHigh risk (A, AE)Moderate (X, 500-year)Minimal (X)Undetermined (D)

Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Furnas 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.

In their words

7 NOAA storm reports from Furnas County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →

Federal disasters

16 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.

DisasterBegan
Road 702 FireApr 22, 2022
Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And FloodingMar 9, 2019
Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line WindsApr 29, 2017
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And FloodingJun 14, 2014
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight Line Winds, And FloodingJun 19, 2011
Severe Winter Storms And SnowstormDec 22, 2009
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And FloodingMay 22, 2008
Severe Winter StormsDec 19, 2006

Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.

Recorded flood events

13 since 1996: 7 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.

EventDateDamage
FloodJun 21, 2019—
Flash FloodJul 8, 2019$100,000
FloodAug 16, 2015—
Flash FloodAug 16, 2015$100,000
Flash FloodSep 9, 2015$8,000
FloodJun 6, 2014—
Flash FloodJun 10, 2009—
Flash FloodAug 24, 2008$30,000

— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

From the storm reports

Flood · Jun 21, 2019. The overall most significant, widespread damaging wind event of the 2019 convective season wrought havoc across much of South Central Nebraska between the late evening of Thursday the 20th and around sunrise on Friday the 21st. The culprits were two separate linear mesoscale convective systems (MCS), with the first one by far the most impactful. This first storm complex, which traversed the area between 10:30 p.m.…

Flash Flood · Jul 8, 2019. Excessive rainfall, flash flooding, and severe winds occurred on this Monday afternoon and evening. Widely scattered thunderstorms began forming around 1 PM CST along and west of Highway 183. By 2 PM CST, a persistent line segment of thunderstorms began affecting western Dawson county. Over the following four hours, this southwest-northeast oriented line slowly crept east across Dawson county into western Buffalo…

Flood · Aug 16, 2015. This Sunday afternoon and evening featured a rather localized-but-significant flooding event within primarily central and northeast portions of Furnas County, including the community of Edison, which was ground zero for flooding rains and also a brief bout of severe wind gusts estimated up to 65 MPH, along with hail up to quarter size. According to a trained spotter two miles southwest of Edison, an unofficial rai…

Flash Flood · Aug 16, 2015. This Sunday afternoon and evening featured a rather localized-but-significant flooding event within primarily central and northeast portions of Furnas County, including the community of Edison, which was ground zero for flooding rains and also a brief bout of severe wind gusts estimated up to 65 MPH, along with hail up to quarter size. According to a trained spotter two miles southwest of Edison, an unofficial rai…

National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

The zones you’ll see on the map

Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.

Cross-section of a river floodplainDiagram: a river valley. The floodway is the channel and the land beside it; the 1%-annual-chance flood surface (the base flood elevation) covers the valley floor as zone A or AE; a narrow band higher up is shaded X, the 0.2% floodplain; higher ground is X.0.2% CHANCE A YEAR (500-YEAR)BASE FLOOD ELEVATION · 1% A YEARXAEFloodwayAEX
  1. A / AE Inside the 1%-a-year floodplain: about a 26% chance of flooding over a 30-year mortgage. AE has a mapped base flood elevation; plain A does not.
  2. Floodway The channel and the land beside it that has to be kept clear enough to carry the flood. Building here is tightly limited.
  3. X shaded The 0.2% (500-year) floodplain, plus some levee-protected and very shallow flood areas.
  4. X Outside both lines. No federal requirement to insure, which is not the same as no risk.

Every flood zone code explained →

Flood insurance in Furnas County

If a building in Furnas 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.