6,126 flood insurance claims·$236.3M paid·12 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 Craven 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 and traditional river and creek flooding dominate the hazard profile here, accounting for 31 total events over the last 30 years alongside multiple tropical storms and coastal flood incidents.
Recent impacts are illustrated by Tropical Storm Ian in September 2022, which brought heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches, elevated water levels, and tropical storm force winds, as well as the combination of a strong coastal storm and king tides in October 2025 that produced moderate to major coastal flooding along sound-side areas of the Neuse River.
NFIP claim data indicates that homeowners and real estate buyers in high-risk Zone A face the highest exposure, representing 5,452 claims with an average payout of $46,661 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties in coastal Zone V also require close attention, averaging $53,985 per claim with an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. While less frequent, properties in Zone X and Zone X_UNSHADED have still recorded hundreds of claims, averaging over $26,000 in payouts and average recorded water depths of 3 to 4 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
1% of Craven County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
5,573 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 5 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 2018, with 2,738 claims and $200.5M paid, the year of Hurricane Florence.
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.
13 NOAA storm reports from Craven County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
32 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 12 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 21, 2026 |
| 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 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 7, 2018 |
| Hurricane Matthew | Oct 4, 2016 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
38 since 1996: 23 flash floods, 8 river or area floods and 2 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2025 | — |
| Coastal Flood | Oct 10, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 11, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 6, 2024 | — |
| Storm Surge/Tide | Sep 22, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 14, 2025. Slow moving thunderstorms produced isolated areas of flash flooding.
Coastal Flood · Oct 10, 2025. The combination of a strong coastal storm and king tides produced moderate to major coastal flooding across parts of coastal Eastern NC. Sound side areas of the southern Pamlico Sound and Neuse River experienced coastal flooding due to a prolonged duration of strong northeast to east winds. Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands experienced major coastal flooding due to large long periods swells and king tides. Some floodi…
Flash Flood · Aug 11, 2024. Slow moving thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding.
Tropical Storm · Aug 8, 2024. After making landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida as a Category 1 hurricane on August 5, Debby weakened to a tropical storm as it slowly moved across southeastern Georgia and offshore. Tropical Storm Debby then came ashore in South Carolina after stalling off the southeast coast for several days. Debby gradually progressed northward through central North Carolina and eventually into southern Virginia.||The cir…
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 Craven 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.