1,430 flood insurance claims·$54.5M paid·8 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 Robeson 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 risk in Robeson County, which recorded 30 flash flood events, 10 general floods, and 7 tropical storms over the last 30 years resulting in a total of 4 deaths. Recent impacts are exemplified by August 2024, when remnants of Tropical Storm Debby produced flash flooding across the area, followed by a stalled frontal boundary that brought further heavy moisture and flash flooding on August 10 and August 11, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend across multiple zones. Zone A accounts for the vast majority of claims with 943 filings averaging $50,243 in payouts and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X properties also face significant risk, logging 262 claims with an average payout of $40,440 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated Zone A and Zone X, as both areas have a documented history of filing substantial numbers of claims with notable average water depths and financial payouts.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Robeson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
949 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 2 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 759 claims and $31.3M paid, the year of Hurricane Florence.
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.
24 NOAA storm reports from Robeson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1984, 8 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 |
| Tropical Storm Eta | Nov 12, 2020 |
| 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.
47 since 1996: 30 flash floods and 10 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 11, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 10, 2024 | $4,000 |
| Flood | Aug 10, 2024 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $8,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 31, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 20, 2023 | $10,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 11, 2024. Deep moisture and a stalled frontal boundary left the area very susceptible to flash flooding from isolated, slow moving storms.
Flash Flood · Aug 10, 2024. Deep moisture and a stalled frontal boundary left the area very susceptible to flash flooding from isolated, slow moving storms.
Flood · Aug 10, 2024. Deep moisture and a stalled frontal boundary left the area very susceptible to flash flooding from isolated, slow moving storms.
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 before making another landfall along the central SC coast between Charleston and Georgetown. The storm then moved northwest to near the SC/NC border and weakened to a tropical depression on August 8 before quickly becoming a non-…
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 Robeson 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.