9 flood insurance claims·$79,046 paid·3 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 Phelps 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 flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 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 3 claims and $37,182 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.
11 NOAA storm reports from Phelps County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
14 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 9, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 14, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight Line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 19, 2011 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 1, 2010 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 22, 2008 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Dec 19, 2006 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Nov 27, 2005 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuees | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
13 since 1996: 9 flash floods and 4 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 8, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 4, 2019 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2016 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Sep 24, 2013 | — |
| Flood | Oct 1, 2013 | $5,000 |
| Flood | May 24, 2011 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 13, 2010 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 29, 2008 | $30,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Flash Flood · Jul 4, 2019. Hail up to the size of golf balls and damaging winds occurred on this Thursday night. Just after 9 PM CST, scattered, small thunderstorms began developing between Elwood and Minden. The storms increased in size and combined into an east-west oriented multi-cell line that was stationary across Gosper, Phelps, and Kearney counties. This line remained stationary through 1 AM CST Friday. However, between midnight and…
Flash Flood · Jun 17, 2016. During a June that featured a below-average quantity of severe weather within South Central Nebraska, this late Friday afternoon-night episode ended up being the most widespread round of the month. The majority of severe storms targeted areas west of the Highway 281 corridor, mainly producing damaging winds and locally heavy rainfall/flooding, along with a few reports of large hail. Some of the more noteworthy win…
Flood · Sep 24, 2013. During the second week of September, an upper-level low pressure system formed and became cut off from the mean flow over the Intermountain West. This low slowly migrated from near Las Vegas north to Idaho. Subtropical high pressure remained stationary over the Southern Plains. This configuration channeled a stream of anomalously high moisture into the Rockies. With surface high pressure essentially stationary ove…
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 Phelps 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.