168 flood insurance claims·$5.1M paid·5 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 Alamance County, North Carolina. 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 from severe weather and tropical systems dominates the flood history of Alamance County, accounting for 47 events and 2 deaths over the last 30 years alongside 6 standard floods, 4 hurricanes resulting in 1 death, and 2 tropical storms. Recent severe events demonstrate this risk, including the July 2025 remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal, which dropped up to 11 inches of record rainfall across the Piedmont and contributed to flash flood fatalities across Alamance and neighboring counties. Additionally, training and back-building storms in May 2025 produced rainfall rates of 3 or more inches per hour through Burlington and surrounding areas.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that properties in FEMA Flood Zone A carry the heaviest financial and physical burden, with 139 recorded claims averaging $40,414 in payouts and an average recorded water depth of 14 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 16 claims averaging $39,696 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents with properties located in Zone A should pay the closest attention to flood risk due to the frequency of high-depth claims, though residents in Zone X have also experienced damaging flood events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
4% of Alamance County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
145 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 12 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 2025, with 53 claims and $3.6M paid, the year of Tropical Depression Chantal.
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.
25 NOAA storm reports from Alamance County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 21, 2026 |
| Tropical Depression Chantal | Jul 6, 2025 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Debby | Aug 5, 2024 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 28, 2022 |
| Hurricane Isaias | Jul 31, 2020 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Sep 1, 2019 |
| Tropical Storm Michael | Oct 10, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
59 since 1996: 47 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 29, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2025 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2025 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2025 | — · 2 killed |
| Flash Flood | Sep 24, 2024 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $5,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 29, 2025. Storms over South Carolina in association with a mid-level system tracked into central North Carolina in the afternoon and evening hours. The storms initially produced a wind damage and isolated hail threat. Thereafter, the event evolved into a flash flood threat, with training and back building storms resulting in 3 or more inches per hour rainfall rates from Albemarle to Greensboro to Burlington to Henderson.
Flash Flood · Jul 19, 2025. An upper-level disturbance moved across central North Carolina, triggering storms that produced damaging wind gusts and a few reports of flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Jul 15, 2025. Isolated to scattered showers and storms developed along the border with southeastern Virginia in the afternoon hours. The storms then propagated south and southwest during the evening hours. Several reports of flooding were observed, along with a few wind damage reports.
Flash Flood · Jul 6, 2025. Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall over northeastern South Carolina during the morning hours of July 6. The remnants of Chantal then tracked west-northwest into portions of central North Carolina, stalling out over the area before tracking east-northeast into Virginia by the 7th of July. Catastrophic flash flooding occurred from record rainfall of up to 11 inches in some spots of the Piedmont, included 6 flash f…
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 Alamance 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.