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FEMA flood zones · Nebraska

Harlan County, Nebraska Flood Zone Map

3 federal flood & hurricane disasters

13% of Harlan 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 Harlan 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

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

Federal disasters

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

DisasterBegan
Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And TornadoesDec 15, 2021
Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And FloodingMar 9, 2019
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And FloodingJun 17, 2018
Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And FloodingJun 14, 2014
Severe Storms And FloodingJun 1, 2010
Severe Winter Storms And SnowstormDec 22, 2009
Severe Winter StormsDec 19, 2006
Hurricane Katrina EvacueesAug 29, 2005

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

Recorded flood events

10 since 1996: 8 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.

EventDateDamage
Flash FloodAug 22, 2021$50,000
FloodMay 27, 2019$100,000
Flash FloodMay 26, 2019—
Flash FloodJun 18, 2019—
Flash FloodJul 9, 2019$100,000
FloodMay 24, 2011$50,000
Flash FloodJun 13, 2010$10,000
Flash FloodJun 10, 2009—

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

From the storm reports

Flash Flood · Aug 22, 2021. Between the late afternoon of Sunday the 22nd and sunrise on Monday the 23rd, primarily some southern-southwestern counties in South Central Nebraska (along with briefly a few northwestern ones) endured an active episode of strong to severe thunderstorms. Within the hardest-hit southern counties (mainly Furnas/Harlan/Franklin) there were several instances of not only severe-criteria wind/hail but also narrow swath…

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 · May 26, 2019. A brief, weak, QLCS tornado occurred just southwest of Upland on this Sunday evening. During the early to mid-afternoon hours, thunderstorms over central Kansas combined into a multicell cluster. Between 4 and 5 PM CST, this cluster of storms moved into south central Nebraska to the south and west of Holdrege. From 5 to 7 PM CST, the storm organization increased with a small bow echo forming as the thunderstorm cl…

Flash Flood · Jun 18, 2019. For most of South Central Nebraska, the 24-hour period from the evening of Monday the 17th into the evening of Tuesday the 18th was simply dreary, damp and seasonably-cool, with no severe storm threat and daytime high temperatures only in the mid-60s to low-70s F. The majority of the area measured no more than 0.50-1.50 of rain, most of which accumulated over the course of several hours, thus causing few-if-any fl…

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 Harlan County

If a building in Harlan 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.