128 flood insurance claims·$1.5M paid·22 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 Traill 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.
River flooding from seasonal snowmelt dominates the flood character of Traill County, supported by NOAA storm records showing 22 flood events compared to 14 flash flood events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include spring snowmelt flooding that began in mid-April and persisted into early May 2023, as well as winter snowmelt and spring blizzards that flooded low-lying areas and roads in April 2019.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners in high-risk zones face the heaviest financial and physical impacts. Zone A accounts for 86 claims with an average payout of $13,649 and an average recorded water depth of 17 inches. Unshaded Zone X properties experience severe risks as well, averaging 23 inches of recorded water depth across 7 claims with an average payout of $20,389. Meanwhile, Zone X properties recorded 17 claims averaging a payout of $9,223 and an average water depth of 3 inches, and Zone UNKNOWN properties recorded 16 claims averaging a payout of $9,414 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone D recorded 1 claim with a payout of $26,900 and an average water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated high-risk flood zones, particularly Zone A and unshaded Zone X, where historical claims document significant water depths and payouts from seasonal snowmelt and runoff.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
9% of Traill County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
94 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 12 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 1997, with 47 claims and $587,427 paid, the year of Severe Winter Storms and Blizzard Conditions and Severe Flooding,severe Winter Storms, Snowmelt, Spring Rains.
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.
7 NOAA storm reports from Traill County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the North Dakota flood stories →
36 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 22 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storm, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Jun 20, 2025 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Straight-line Winds | Dec 25, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Flooding | Apr 22, 2022 |
| Flooding | Apr 1, 2020 |
| Flooding | Oct 9, 2019 |
| Flooding | Mar 21, 2019 |
| Flooding | Apr 22, 2013 |
| Flooding | Apr 5, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
36 since 1996: 14 flash floods and 22 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 19, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Apr 18, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 23, 2022 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 21, 2019 | $250,000 |
| Flood | Apr 4, 2019 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Apr 28, 2013 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Apr 8, 2011 | — |
| Flood | Mar 18, 2010 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Apr 19, 2023. Snowmelt flooding along the North Dakota Tributaries began in early to mid-April, with a few locations persisting into early May.
Flood · Apr 18, 2023. Spring snowmelt flooding began in mid to late April in most locations, then persisted into early May.
Flash Flood · Apr 23, 2022. Several rounds of severe thunderstorms traversed the region starting on the evening of April 22nd. Initially, large hail was the primary concern, with an increasingly tornadic environment heading into April 23rd. Both hail (up to 1.5 inches) and tornadoes were reported with this system.
Flash Flood · Sep 21, 2019. By the late afternoon of the 20th, a weak area of surface low pressure set up near Devils Lake, with the warm front extending out to the east-southeast. Temperatures had risen into the mid 70s to low 80s in the warm sector, with dew points in the upper 60s to lower 70s. To the southwest of the low, a cold front extended back toward Bismarck. Just before 5 pm CDT, a fairly solid line of thunderstorms developed alon…
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 Traill 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.