259 flood insurance claims·$4.3M 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 Saunders 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.
Standard river floods and flash floods from heavy seasonal rainfall dominate the flood profile of Saunders County, Nebraska, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 55 flood events and 27 flash flood events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include a persistent band of heavy showers on September 1, 2025, which produced radar-estimated rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour and totals reaching 4 to 6 inches, as well as ongoing river flooding along the Missouri River extending into July 2024 that kept regional transportation routes closed as waters receded.
Federal Emergency Management Agency records show that flood losses extend across multiple zones, with the highest claim volume concentrated in Zone A at 156 claims with an average payout of $21,688 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Zone X unshaded properties also face risk, accounting for 48 claims with an average payout of $12,932 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Properties in Zone X recorded fewer claims at 21, but experienced the highest average payout at $50,356 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, as well as those situated near riverfronts and low-lying areas prone to intense convective rainfall.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
27% of Saunders County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
213 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 3 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 1993, with 56 claims and $398,187 paid, the year of Ice Jams & Flooding and Severe Storms 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.
39 NOAA storm reports from Saunders County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
30 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 | Dec 15, 2021 |
| 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.
82 since 1996: 27 flash floods and 55 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 1, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 22, 2024 | $1.2M |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2024 | $250,000 |
| Flood | Jul 2, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 2, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 28, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 16, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 1, 2025. On the morning of September 1, 2025, a mesoscale vorticity maximum advancing into eastern Nebraska provided the necessary forcing for lift, resulting in a persistent band of moderate to heavy showers. The concurrent presence of a 20-25 knot low-level jet significantly enhanced the inflow of a very moist, albeit weakly unstable, air mass. This dynamic led to radar-estimated rainfall rates reaching 2 to 3 inches per…
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…
Flash Flood · May 21, 2024. Troughing over the western CONUS brought southwesterly flow aloft over the central and northern Plains for the duration of this event. In the couple of days leading up to May 21st, the upper-level flow pattern amplified as a trough deepened over the northern Rockies. This trough then ejected out into the central Plains on the 21st. At the surface, a stationary front developed and stretched across central Nebraska…
Flood · Jul 2, 2024. At the beginning of July, river flooding was still ongoing along portions of the Missouri River extending from east-central Nebraska/southwest Iowa to the southern Nebraska border. Most of the length of the river crested at the end of June, so the greatest impacts are addressed in June StormData. However, sections of I-29 and the I-29/I680 junction remained closed through the first week of July as flood waters rec…
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 Saunders 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.