2 flood insurance claims·$0 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 McKenzie 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 flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 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.
4 NOAA storm reports from McKenzie County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Dakota flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Bear Den Fire | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Elk Horn Fire | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Wildfires And Straight-line Winds | Oct 5, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Flooding | Apr 22, 2022 |
| Severe Storm, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 7, 2021 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 29, 2020 |
| Flooding | Mar 21, 2019 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | May 17, 2013 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
8 since 1996: 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 21, 2019 | $4.0M |
| Flood | Aug 15, 2014 | $1.3M |
| Flood | May 11, 2011 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Jun 1, 2011 | — |
| Flood | Jul 1, 2011 | — |
| Flood | Aug 1, 2011 | — |
| Flood | Mar 6, 2009 | $94,000 |
| Flood | Mar 17, 2003 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 21, 2019. Significant ice jam related high waters created flooding along the Yellowstone River in northwest North Dakota from March 21 to March 28. During this time, homes and infrastructure that had not been inundated in over a generation were impacted. Damages to homes included eight destroyed, 12 with major damage, one with minor damage, four considered affected, and another four were inaccessible. In addition, multiple…
Flood · Aug 15, 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…
Flood · May 11, 2011. This was part of historic flooding in North Dakota with statewide costs estimated around 1.5 billion dollars. Flooding was the result of significant winter snows and significant spring rains, not only in North Dakota but in Montana as well. Rocky Mountain snowpack was four to six times normal. Flooding was along the Missouri River from the Montana border to Garrison Dam. Dams were overwhelmed by the amount of wate…
Flood · Jun 1, 2011. This was part of historic flooding in North Dakota with statewide costs estimated around 1.5 billion dollars. Flooding was the result of significant winter snows and significant spring rains, not only in North Dakota but in Montana as well. Rocky Mountain snowpack was four to six times normal. Flooding was along the Missouri River from the Montana border to Garrison Dam. Dams were overwhelmed by the amount of wate…
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 McKenzie 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.