41 flood insurance claims·$2.1M 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 Chatham 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 events dominates the flood risk profile in Chatham County, North Carolina, accounting for 35 events and 3 deaths out of 49 total recorded storm events over the last 30 years, alongside 6 standard floods, 4 tropical storms, and 4 hurricanes.
This risk is heavily driven by tropical systems, as demonstrated by the remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal in July 2025, which stalled over central North Carolina and produced record rainfall of up to 11 inches in parts of the Piedmont, resulting in widespread flooding and multiple flash flood fatalities across Chatham, Alamance, and Orange counties.
Property owners and real estate professionals should note that claims occur across multiple zones, with FEMA data showing 29 claims in Zone A averaging a payout of $57,473 with an average recorded water depth of 9 inches, and 11 claims in Zone X averaging a payout of $80,828 with an average recorded water depth of 51 inches. Residents in both designated high-risk zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas should pay close attention to these historical patterns when evaluating property risk.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Chatham County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
29 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 23 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 14 claims and $1.3M 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.
19 NOAA storm reports from Chatham County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
22 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.
49 since 1996: 35 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2025 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2025 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2025 | $20,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2025 | $1.6M |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2025 | — · 2 killed |
| Flash Flood | Aug 6, 2025 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $2,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Flash Flood · Aug 6, 2025. Within cool northeasterly surface flow, several upper-level disturbances tracked across central North Carolina from a persistent weak trough of low pressure over the Ohio Valley region. Copious amounts of moisture remained from the 5th of August. A wedge front was also in place along Interstate 95. Several reports of flash flooding were reported over the eastern Piedmont and northern Coastal Plain, including two f…
Flash Flood · Aug 8, 2024. Tropical Depression Debby slowly made its way through Florida, off the South Carolina coast, then back inland through the western Piedmont of North Carolina during the evening hours of 8 August 2024. Ahead of the storm, numerous feeder bands brought periods of heavy rain to central North Carolina, resulting in widespread 4-6 inch rainfall amounts across the western Piedmont, with higher amounts to the east. In add…
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 Chatham 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.