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FEMA flood zones · North Dakota

Kidder County, North Dakota Flood Zone Map

10 federal flood & hurricane disasters

FEMA’s digital flood map shows no high- or moderate-risk zones in Kidder County. That can mean the area was never studied in detail or has no digital map, not that it can’t flood; the county floodplain administrator can say which.

Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.

Coastal high risk (V, VE)FloodwayHigh risk (A, AE)Moderate (X, 500-year)Minimal (X)Undetermined (D)

Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Kidder County, North Dakota. 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.

In their words

5 NOAA storm reports from Kidder County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Dakota flood stories →

Federal disasters

26 federal disaster declarations since 1976, 10 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.

DisasterBegan
Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And TornadoesAug 7, 2025
Severe Storm, Tornadoes, And Straight-line WindsJun 20, 2025
Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, And Straight-line WindsNov 9, 2022
Severe Winter Storm And FloodingApr 22, 2022
Severe Storm, Straight-line Winds, And FloodingJun 7, 2021
FloodingApr 1, 2020
FloodingOct 9, 2019
Severe Storms And FloodingMay 17, 2013

Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.

Recorded flood events

8 since 1996: 5 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.

EventDateDamage
Flash FloodJun 8, 2021$350,000
Flash FloodAug 16, 2014$25,000
Flash FloodJun 15, 2009$50,000
FloodMar 6, 2009$45,000
FloodApr 1, 2009$1.3M
Flash FloodAug 24, 2006$25,000
Flash FloodJun 29, 2005$20,000
FloodMar 21, 1997—

— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

From the storm reports

Flash Flood · Jun 8, 2021. An extended period consisting of two days of continuous severe weather occurred from June 7 through June 8. Thunderstorms initially developed along a warm front over the James River Valley into parts of south central North Dakota where strong instability and deep layer shear were noted. During the evening, a mix of wind and hail damage occurred. The largest hail reported during this period was 2.25 inches in diame…

Flash Flood · Aug 16, 2014. Several waves of heavy rain, with embedded non severe thunderstorms with torrential rain, moved through western and central North Dakota. There was overland, stream, river and flash flooding, mainly over the southern half of the western and central parts of the state. The hardest hit areas were between Williston and Dickinson, and between Bismarck and Jamestown. Up to six inches of rain fell from Kintyre to Napole…

Flash Flood · Jun 15, 2009. An upper level low pressure system moving slowly across west and central North Dakota coincided with afternoon destabilization of the atmosphere to trigger scattered thunderstorms over the southwest and south central parts of the state. A few of these storms became severe during the evening hours with several reports of large hail. In addition, flash flooding from very heavy rainfall was reported over south centra…

Flood · Mar 6, 2009. This devastating flooding continued into April, and in some cases worsened.||Western and central North Dakota experienced a snowy winter of 2008-2009. Bismarck, for example, had the snowiest December on record, which was also the snowiest month ever on record, with 33.3 inches of snow in December 2008. March 2009 was the fifth snowiest month on record with 29.7 inches. For the entire season Bismarck ended up the s…

National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.

The zones you’ll see on the map

Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.

Cross-section of a river floodplainDiagram: a river valley. The floodway is the channel and the land beside it; the 1%-annual-chance flood surface (the base flood elevation) covers the valley floor as zone A or AE; a narrow band higher up is shaded X, the 0.2% floodplain; higher ground is X.0.2% CHANCE A YEAR (500-YEAR)BASE FLOOD ELEVATION · 1% A YEARXAEFloodwayAEX
  1. A / AE Inside the 1%-a-year floodplain: about a 26% chance of flooding over a 30-year mortgage. AE has a mapped base flood elevation; plain A does not.
  2. Floodway The channel and the land beside it that has to be kept clear enough to carry the flood. Building here is tightly limited.
  3. X shaded The 0.2% (500-year) floodplain, plus some levee-protected and very shallow flood areas.
  4. X Outside both lines. No federal requirement to insure, which is not the same as no risk.

Every flood zone code explained →

Flood insurance in Kidder County

If a building in Kidder 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.