735 flood insurance claims·$33.7M 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 Nash 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 dominates the flood risk profile in Nash County, supported by 35 recorded flash flood events, 6 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include a stalled cold front that caused flash flooding on June 16, 2025, and upper-level disturbances along a wedge front that produced flash flooding resulting in two fatalities on August 6, 2025. Tropical systems also pose a recognized hazard, as demonstrated by heavy rainfall and wind gusts from Tropical Storm Ian on September 30, 2022.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating risk extends beyond high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for the highest claim volume with 575 claims averaging a $53,398 payout and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties in moderate-to-low risk zones also experience flooding, including 68 claims in Zone X averaging a $27,666 payout with an average water depth of 3 inches, 47 claims in Zone X_SHADED averaging an $81,428 payout with an average water depth of 8 inches, and 28 claims in Zone X_UNSHADED averaging a $67,415 payout with an average water depth of 16 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in Zone A and shaded or unshaded Zone X areas where historical claims and standing water depths indicate substantial flood exposure.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of Nash County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
655 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 6 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 1999, with 370 claims and $25.9M paid, the year of Hurricane Floyd and Hurricane Floyd Major Disaster Declarations.
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 Nash County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 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 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
50 since 1996: 35 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2025 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 6, 2025 | — · 2 killed |
| Flash Flood | Aug 6, 2025 | $100,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | $750,000 |
| Flood | Jun 17, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 4, 2020 | $1.0M |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 6, 2019 | $500,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 16, 2025. A southward moving cold front out of Virginia stalled out near the North Carolina border. Storms from the late evening on the 15th persisted into the early morning hours of the 16th along and south of the front, producing isolated flash flooding. The stalled boundary then fueled additional numerous showers and storms in the afternoon and evening hours of the 16th along small scale boundaries. Several downed trees…
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…
Tropical Storm · Sep 30, 2022. Hurricane Ian made landfall along the South Carolina coast near Georgetown during the early afternoon hours of September 30, 2022. Widespread wind gusts over tropical storm force and heavy rainfall occurred across much of central North Carolina through the afternoon and evening hours. There were numerous reports of wind damage and power outages as a result of the storm.
Flood · Jun 17, 2020. A slow moving upper-level low combined with a surge of warmer and more moist air that moved over a cooler air mass near the surface produced multiple rounds of rain, showers, and thunderstorms across the Coastal Plain and the northeast Piedmont of North Carolina during the morning hours. Widespread rain fell across the area during the previous day or two saturating the soil and raising stream and creek levels. A n…
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 Nash 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.