108 flood insurance claims·$725,348 paid·4 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 Rockingham 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.
Rockingham County experiences flood hazards primarily driven by flash flooding and standard river floods, with NOAA records indicating 61 flash flood events, 40 flood events, and 3 tropical storms over the past 30 years. Recent significant events include heavy rainfall and moisture transport from the Gulf of Mexico associated with an upper-level trough and occluded front in January 2024, which produced storm-total rainfall amounts between 2 and 3 inches across the middle-Dan River basin on January 28, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data demonstrate that flood risks extend across multiple zones within the county. Zone A recorded 35 claims with an average payout of $9,151 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Zone X accounts for 23 claims with an average payout of $14,048 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Unshaded Zone X properties filed 23 claims with an average payout of $7,525 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, while shaded Zone X areas recorded 16 claims averaging $8,768 in payouts with an average water depth of 8 inches. Properties with unknown zones recorded 11 claims with an average payout of $7,407 and an average water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay particular attention to properties located in both designated high-risk zones like Zone A and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas, where historical claims indicate significant recorded water depths and payouts.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
53% of Rockingham County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
74 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 4 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 1979, with 29 claims and $115,981 paid.
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.
59 NOAA storm reports from Rockingham County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 4 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 |
| Hurricane Dorian | Sep 1, 2019 |
| Tropical Storm Michael | Oct 10, 2018 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 7, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
104 since 1996: 61 flash floods and 40 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 28, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 18, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 18, 2024 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 17, 2024 | $35,000 |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Aug 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 28, 2024. An upper level low pressure system passed up the Ohio River Valley on the 28th, drawing an associated occluded front across the central Appalachians. Strong southerly windflow ahead of the front brought precipitable water values ranging from 1.1 to nearly 1.4 inches over northwest North Carolina, which is between 2 and 3 standard deviations above normal per NWS climatology data. This resulted in storm-total rain…
Flood · Sep 18, 2024. A stationary front draped east to west across northern North Carolina provided the focus for training showers and thunderstorms during the evening of the 17th. Winds were from the east along the North Carolina & Virginia state border around high pressure centered over New England. The easterly windflow carried moist Atlantic air across Stokes and Rockingham Counties, with precipitable water values ranging from 1…
Flash Flood · Sep 17, 2024. A stationary front draped east to west across northern North Carolina provided the focus for training showers and thunderstorms during the evening of the 17th. Winds were from the east along the North Carolina & Virginia state border around high pressure centered over New England. The easterly windflow carried moist Atlantic air across Stokes and Rockingham Counties, with precipitable water values ranging from 1…
Flood · Jan 9, 2024. A deep, negatively tilted upper level trough and associated occluded front passed from the central Mississippi River Valley on January 9th toward the lower New England region by the morning of the 10th. Strong southerly wind flow ahead of the upper trough carried deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northward into the Carolinas and the lower Mid-Atlantic. Precipitable water values ranged from 1.2 inches to nearly…
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 Rockingham 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.