498 flood insurance claims·$12.6M paid·6 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 Wilson 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 profile in Wilson County, which recorded 49 flash flood events alongside 7 tropical storms and 6 hurricanes over the last 30 years, resulting in 2 flood deaths. Recent impacts include events like Tropical Depression Debby in August 2024 and Hurricane Helene in September 2024, which brought heavy rainfall and severe weather to the region, as well as stalled cold fronts such as the system that produced flash flooding in June 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend beyond high-risk areas. Properties located in FEMA Zone A experienced the highest volume of claims at 345, with an average payout of $33,167 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. However, properties in Zone X and various sub-zones also recorded numerous claims. Notably, Zone X shaded properties averaged $48,061 per claim with an average recorded water depth of 3 inches, while unshaded Zone X properties averaged 7 inches of recorded water depth across 31 claims. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in designated high-risk zones like Zone A, as well as properties within Zone X sub-zones that have historically sustained costly flood damage.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
13% of Wilson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
399 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 6 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 1999, with 182 claims and $5.1M paid, the year of Hurricane Floyd and Hurricane Floyd Major Disaster Declarations.
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.
33 NOAA storm reports from Wilson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Carolina flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 6 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.
64 since 1996: 49 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2025 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2025 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 23, 2023 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 30, 2022 | $750,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 12, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 16, 2025. A southward moving cold front out of Virginia stalled out near the North Carolina border. Storms from the late evening on the 15th persisted into the early morning hours of the 16th along and south of the front, producing isolated flash flooding. The stalled boundary then fueled additional numerous showers and storms in the afternoon and evening hours of the 16th along small scale boundaries. Several downed trees…
Flash Flood · Sep 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene weakened to a strong tropical storm on the morning of 27 September across northeast Georgia. Helene continued to track to the west and northwest into the Tennessee Valley. Widespread rainfall totals of 2-4 inches of rain fell over central North Carolina, along with wind gusts of 25-45 mph. Additionally, four tornadoes occurred, with the strongest an EF3, touching down over Rocky Mount in Nash County.
Flash Flood · Aug 8, 2024. Tropical Depression Debby slowly made its way through Florida, off the South Carolina coast, then back inland through the western Piedmont of North Carolina during the evening hours of 8 August 2024. Ahead of the storm, numerous feeder bands brought periods of heavy rain to central North Carolina, resulting in widespread 4-6 inch rainfall amounts across the western Piedmont, with higher amounts to the east. In add…
Flash Flood · Sep 23, 2023. Tropical Storm Ophelia made landfall across southeastern North Carolina. Ophelia tracked north-northwest into the northern Coastal Plain of central North Carolina by midday, then into eastern Virginia by the early evening hours. Widespread rainfall to the north and west of Ophelia led to numerous flash flood reports in Wake, Wilson, and Halifax Counties during the morning and early afternoon hours.
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 Wilson 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.