82 flood insurance claims·$2.5M paid·9 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 Greene 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 summer thunderstorms and tropical systems dominates the flood character of Greene County. Over the last 30 years, NOAA records show 33 flash flood events, alongside 11 tropical storms, 8 hurricanes, and 2 general floods resulting in 1 death. Recent occurrences include Tropical Storm Debby in August 2024 and severe localized thunderstorms causing flash flooding in July 2021.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend beyond high-risk areas. Properties in Zone A experienced 35 claims with an average payout of $42,182 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X properties logged 30 claims averaging $29,754 with an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, and Shaded Zone X recorded 6 claims with an average payout of $51,888 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Unshaded Zone X properties recorded 6 claims averaging $3,564 with an average depth of 2 inches, and Zone V recorded 3 claims averaging $33,269 with an average depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in both high-risk coastal or riverine zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas, where significant claims and standing water depths indicate substantial vulnerability to heavy rainfall and tropical systems.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
24% of Greene County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
50 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 3 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 2016, with 44 claims and $1.6M paid, the year of Hurricane Matthew.
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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Greene County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 9 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.
54 since 1996: 33 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 1, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 14, 2018 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 13, 2018 | $200,000 |
| Flood | Apr 26, 2017 | — · 1 killed |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 15, 2025. Slow moving thunderstorms produced areas of significant flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Aug 1, 2025. Slow moving thunderstorms produced isolated areas of flash flooding.
Flash Flood · 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…
Flash Flood · Jul 27, 2021. A line of showers and thunderstorms along a gust front, well ahead of a cold front, produced localized heavy rain and flash flooding. Showers and thunderstorms trained over the same areas for a period of time which led to excessive rainfall.
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 Greene 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.