72 flood insurance claims·$1.2M paid·3 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 Surry 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 heavy rain events dominates the flood profile of Surry County, supported by 62 flash flood events, 36 general flood events, and 1 tropical storm recorded over the last 30 years. Recent historical events illustrate these risks, including heavy rainfall and flash flooding driven by slow-moving thunderstorms in August 2025, as well as a significant trough and frontal system that brought deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, producing floods and flash floods in January 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties in designated high-risk and unmapped areas experience notable impacts. Zone A accounts for 34 claims with an average payout of $16,188 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Properties categorized under Zone UNKNOWN recorded 30 claims with an average payout of $23,684 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches, while Zone X_SHADED recorded 6 claims with an average payout of $37,444 and an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 2 claims with an average payout of $5,308 and an average water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located in Zone A and unmapped (UNKNOWN) areas, which account for the majority of historical flood insurance claims and significant average water depths in the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
19% of Surry County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
42 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 1980, with 26 claims and $435,426 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.
57 NOAA storm reports from Surry County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 3 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 |
| Tropical Storm Michael | Oct 10, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
99 since 1996: 62 flash floods and 36 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 21, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 28, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 28, 2023 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 9, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 22, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 21, 2025. A cluster of slow-moving thunderstorms passed across eastern Surry County and western Stokes County during the evening of August 21st. Rainfall rates within some of the stronger storms were observed to be as high as 5 inches per hour. The FLASH 3-hour ARI in the Town of King was observed to be as high as a 20-year event at 11 pm EDT, while the 3-hour QPE/FFG ratio was observed reaching 105.
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…
Flash 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…
Flash Flood · Aug 28, 2023. A series of training thunderstorms produced extremely high rainfall across portions of Patrick and Carroll Counties in Virginia during the predawn hours of August 28th. This resulted in areas of flash flooding, mainly in the headwaters of the Smith River and the Ararat River, with extensive river flooding observed in Mount Airy, NC. ||The event began with a stationary front draped near the border of Virginia and 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 Surry 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.