733 flood insurance claims·$36.0M paid·6 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 Haywood 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 driven by heavy rainfall and severe storms dominates the flood history of Haywood County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 26 flash flood events resulting in 9 deaths, alongside 8 general flood events causing 3 deaths and 2 tropical storm events. Recent activity includes major impacts from Tropical Cyclone Helene in September 2024, as well as severe storms producing heavy rain in May 2022.
Federal insurance records highlight significant risk across designated zones. Zone A accounts for the vast majority of claims with 630 filings, averaging $61,721 per payout and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Properties located in Zone X have also recorded claims, including 58 claims averaging $41,504 with an average recorded water depth of 20 inches, 19 unshaded Zone X claims averaging $59,913 with an average depth of 3 inches, and 16 shaded Zone X claims averaging $35,450 with an average depth of 4 inches. An additional 10 claims with unknown zones averaged $3,507 with an average depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in high-risk Zone A, as well as those in Zone X where average recorded water depths during past floods have reached up to 20 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Haywood County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
665 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 11 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 2024, with 277 claims and $17.0M paid, the year of Hurricane Helene.
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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Haywood County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 21, 2026 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 28, 2022 |
| Remnants Of Tropical Storm Fred | Aug 16, 2021 |
| Hurricane Isaias | Jul 31, 2020 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Sep 1, 2019 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 7, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
36 since 1996: 26 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $100,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $2.0M |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $200.0M · 4 killed |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2022 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 17, 2021 | $200.0M · 5 killed |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 29, 2020 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 13, 2020 | $750,000 |
| Flash Flood | Dec 24, 2015 | $500 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Tropical Storm · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Flash Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Flash Flood · May 26, 2022. A broad band of moderate to heavy rain showers with embedded strong to severe thunderstorms moved over western North Carolina throughout the afternoon into the evening. Several strong to severe thunderstorms produced locally damaging wind gusts, brief large hail, and even a couple of tornadoes, including a strong tornado in Iredell County.
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 Haywood 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.