65 flood insurance claims·$395,181 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 Randolph 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 severe summer thunderstorms and slow-moving weather systems dominates the flood risk profile in Randolph County, accounting for the vast majority of historical events over the past thirty years alongside occasional tropical systems and general flooding.
Recent NOAA storm records illustrate this pattern, including a flash flood event on July 15, 2025, driven by isolated to scattered afternoon showers and storms propagating south and southwestward. Another notable event occurred on August 30, 2024, when a southward-moving frontal boundary combined with a disturbance aloft to produce numerous showers, power line damage, and flash flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data shows claims occurring across multiple zones, with the highest volume in Zone A (32 claims with an average payout of $8,436 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches) and Zone X (24 claims with an average payout of $13,517 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch). Zone X Unshaded properties should also pay attention, having recorded an average water depth of 9 inches across 7 claims. Property owners located within designated Special Flood Hazard Areas like Zone A, as well as those in moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas subject to localized heavy rainfall and storm runoff, should review their coverage carefully.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
20% of Randolph County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
40 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 2018, with 9 claims and $111,887 paid, the year of Hurricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael.
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.
18 NOAA storm reports from Randolph County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 5 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 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Feb 6, 2020 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Sep 1, 2019 |
| Tropical Storm Michael | Oct 10, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
71 since 1996: 59 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 5, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | $750,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2021 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 10, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 15, 2025. Isolated to scattered showers and storms developed along the border with southeastern Virginia in the afternoon hours. The storms then propagated south and southwest during the evening hours. Several reports of flooding were observed, along with a few wind damage reports.
Flash Flood · Aug 30, 2024. A frontal boundary moving south from east-central Virginia into central North Carolina combined with a disturbance aloft and produced numerous showers and storms in the afternoon to late evening hours. Storms initially formed over the eastern Piedmont and Coastal Plain, congealing and tracking west-southwestward in the evening hours over the western and southern Piedmont and Sandhills. Numerous downed trees and po…
Flash Flood · Jan 9, 2024. A potent area of low pressure moved through the Gulf Coast states into the Southeast United States. Widespread gusty winds developed across North Carolina ahead of this low, and a line of showers and thunderstorms swept through North Carolina during the afternoon and evening hours. Widespread tree damage was associated with this event, both within the gradient winds ahead of the thunderstorms, and the convective l…
Flash Flood · Jul 5, 2023. Showers and thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon over the central/eastern Piedmont and central Coastal Plain. The storms then drifted southward over the Sandhills and southern Piedmont by the evening and overnight.
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 Randolph 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.