13 flood insurance claims·$552,055 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 Thurston 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 and river flooding from summer storms and severe weather dominate the flood history of Thurston County, Nebraska. Over the last 30 years, recorded events include 14 flash floods and 9 general floods.
Significant historical events illustrate this risk. In March 2019, a bomb cyclone combined warm temperatures, rapid snowmelt, and 1 to 2.5 inches of rain over frozen ground to produce widespread, historic flooding across eastern Nebraska. In June 2024, a stationary front and training thunderstorms brought repeated rounds of heavy rain to the area. Later that year in September 2019, strong nighttime thunderstorms produced heavy rainfall amounts ranging from 3.75 to 4.3 inches across the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records reflect claims across different zones. Zone A properties account for 12 claims with an average payout of $6,507 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Zone X properties account for 1 claim with an average payout of $50,000 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Property owners in Zone A and Zone B/X should pay the closest attention to these flood risks, particularly those located near waterways or in low-lying areas prone to rapid accumulation from heavy rainfall.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 2 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 1984, with 8 claims and $9,487 paid.
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.
8 NOAA storm reports from Thurston County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
23 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Mar 18, 2025 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | May 12, 2022 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 9, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 17, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Jun 12, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 14, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Winter Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Oct 2, 2013 |
| Flooding | Jun 17, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
23 since 1996: 14 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jun 24, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 19, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | $60,000 |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 25, 2018 | — |
| Flood | Jun 15, 2014 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 14, 2012 | — |
| Flood | Aug 18, 2011 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Flash Flood · Sep 19, 2019. Strong thunderstorms developed during the nighttime and lingered into the morning. Several flash flood warnings were issued between Wayne and Omaha. Thunderstorms produced 3.75 inches of rain at Lyons, 4.3 inches south of Pilger, and 4 inches at Pender.
Flood · Mar 13, 2019. A 971mb bomb cyclone moved out of the central Rockies on Wednesday, March 13, 2019 and helped to create widespread, moderate to major, and in many cases historic, flooding across eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. From 4 to 15 inches of snow cover remained across the mid Missouri River valley, and the ground was frozen with existing frost depths of 15 to 23 inches. Warm temperatures allowed all of the snow to rapi…
Flash Flood · Jun 25, 2018. An upper-level low tracked from the northern Rockies into the mid Missouri Valley in tandem with a surface low that developed slowly east across Nebraska. Multiple waves of thunderstorms moved through eastern Nebraska during the 24th and 25th with isolated occurrences of damaging winds and severe hail, along with heavy rain that resulted in areas of flooding. Hardest hit were Cuming and Platte Counties where rainf…
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 Thurston 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.