8 flood insurance claims·$110,663 paid·4 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 Valley 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 20 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 2010, with 4 claims and $23,556 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Ice Jams, and 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.
7 NOAA storm reports from Valley County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Nebraska flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1966, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | May 12, 2022 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Mar 9, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Apr 13, 2018 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Apr 29, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 1, 2014 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 1, 2010 |
| Severe Storms, Ice Jams, And Flooding | Mar 6, 2010 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 22, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
9 since 1996: 7 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | $2.0M |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2019 | $2.0M |
| Flash Flood | Aug 2, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 30, 2016 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 12, 2010 | $1.0M |
| Flash Flood | May 29, 2007 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 22, 2007 | $15,000 |
| Flood | Feb 20, 2007 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Mar 13, 2019. Excessive rainfall, blizzard conditions, and high winds occurred on this Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday, and they were followed by extensive and significant flooding that lasted for days afterward. The seeds of the disastrous flooding were planted in the weeks leading up to this event. The factors that came together made this a worst case scenario. February through early March was bitterly cold and snowy du…
Flood · Mar 13, 2019. Excessive rainfall, blizzard conditions, and high winds occurred on this Tuesday night, Wednesday and Thursday, and they were followed by extensive and significant flooding that lasted for days afterward. The seeds of the disastrous flooding were planted in the weeks leading up to this event. The factors that came together made this a worst case scenario. February through early March was bitterly cold and snowy du…
Flash Flood · Aug 2, 2019. The vast majority of South Central Nebraska experienced very little (if any) notable weather on this Friday. However, there were a couple of significant exceptions, as heavy rains caused extensive flooding in parts of Valley County and a lone severe storm with damaging winds and large hail brushed far western portions of Dawson and Furnas counties. Going into more detail, and starting with the Valley County situat…
Flash Flood · Jul 30, 2016. Heavy rain and flash flooding occurred on this Saturday morning, along with a few reports of severe hail and winds between Grand Island and Hastings. Between midnight and 1 a.m. CST, small, isolated single-cell thunderstorms developed over central Nebraska, between Ainsworth and Lexington. As the night progressed, they were joined by more storms with an increasing trend toward a multicell convective mode as a comm…
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 Valley 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.