79 flood insurance claims·$2.0M 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 Macon 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 floods and standard river floods driven by heavy rainfall and slow-moving frontal systems dominate the flood character of Macon County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 20 flood events, 18 flash flood events resulting in 1 death, and 1 tropical storm.
Specific historical events illustrate these risks, including a September 2024 event involving Tropical Cyclone Helene and a slow-moving cold front that produced widespread heavy rainfall and flash flooding. Another significant event occurred in February 2020, when high moisture levels combined with a slow-moving frontal system to generate intense rain rates and widespread flash flooding across the region.
NFIP claims data reflects risk across different zones in the county. Zone A recorded 52 claims with an average payout of $32,252 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Zone X recorded 26 claims with an average payout of $35,370 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $12,868 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Property owners in Zone A and Zone X should pay the most attention to these flood risks, given their history of recorded claims and water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
2% of Macon County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
53 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 8 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 2004, with 22 claims and $762,882 paid, the year of Tropical Storm Frances and Hurricane Ivan.
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 Macon County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 5 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 |
| Hurricane Isaias | Jul 31, 2020 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Sep 1, 2019 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 7, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 3, 2013 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
39 since 1996: 18 flash floods and 20 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $1.5M |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $500,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Apr 13, 2020 | $250,000 |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Feb 22, 2019 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Dec 28, 2018 | $500 |
| Flash Flood | May 27, 2018 | $3,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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 · Apr 13, 2020. A strong storm system impacted the Southeast, resulting in an area of widespread heavy rain and embedded strong to severe thunderstorms that moved across western North Carolina during the late night and early morning hours. Localized flash flooding, some of which was quite significant developed across the mountains. Isolated severe weather also occurred, mainly in the form of damaging wind gusts. Strong southerly…
Flood · Feb 6, 2020. Unusually high levels of moisture for early February combined with a slow-moving frontal system to produce an extended period of moderate to heavy rainfall across western North Carolina from the morning of the 5th until the early morning hours of the 7th. Intense rain rates associated with bands of heavy rain showers and embedded thunderstorms developing along the front during the morning and afternoon of the 7th…
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 Macon 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.