56 flood insurance claims·$1.2M paid·2 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 Swain 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.
Swain County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by flash floods and river floods, accounting for 17 flash flood events and 14 flood events out of 33 total recorded events over the last 30 years, alongside 2 tropical storm events.
Recent history highlights the severity of these events. In September 2024, Tropical Cyclone Helene interacted with a slow-moving cold front, producing widespread heavy rain and predecessor heavy rainfall across the southern Appalachians. Earlier, in February 2020, unusually high moisture combined with a slow-moving frontal system to generate intense rain rates that resulted in widespread flash flooding across western North Carolina.
NFIP claims data demonstrates that high-risk areas carry the heaviest burden, with Zone A accounting for 47 claims with an average payout of $30,258 and an average recorded water depth of 16 inches. Zone X properties also face risk, recording 7 claims with an average payout of $53,096 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners in Zone A and Zone X should pay the closest attention to flood risk given these historical claim patterns and water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Swain County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
47 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 13 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 10 claims and $31,008 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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Swain County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1993, 2 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 21, 2026 |
| Sam Davis Road Fire | Apr 18, 2025 |
| Alarka Fire | Mar 25, 2025 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 28, 2022 |
| Hurricane Isaias | Jul 31, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Feb 6, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
33 since 1996: 17 flash floods and 14 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $400,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $500,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Oct 29, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | $200,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 19, 2019 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2018 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2018 | $1,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Tropical Storm · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Flash Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a band of widespread heavy rain showers and embedded scattered thunderstorms over the southern Appalac…
Tropical Storm · Oct 29, 2020. Tropical moisture and heavy rain overspread western North Carolina throughout the 28th through the morning of the 29th as the center of Tropical Storm Zeta moved quickly from the mouth of the Mississippi River into the southern Appalachians. Strong winds developed across portions of western North Carolina during the morning, downing hundreds of trees across the area. Multiple trees fell on structures and vehicles.…
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 Swain 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.