63 flood insurance claims·$1.7M paid·4 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 Pickens County, South 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 dominates the flood character of Pickens County, accounting for the vast majority of recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside general floods and tropical storms. Heavy rainfall events are frequently driven by tropical systems, such as Tropical Storm Helene in September 2024, where moisture interacting with a slow-moving cold front produced widespread heavy rain showers and embedded thunderstorms across the southern Appalachians.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that flood risks extend across multiple zones with varying impacts. Properties in high-risk Zone A have recorded 32 claims with an average payout of $39,146 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X have logged 26 claims with an average payout of $20,131 and an average recorded water depth of 36 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED properties recorded 3 claims with an average payout of $49,772 and an average recorded water depth of 36 inches. Single claims were also recorded in Zone V and Zone X_SHADED.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated high-risk Zone A areas, as well as properties in Zone X and Zone X_UNSHADED where claims have documented significantly deeper average water depths of 36 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of Pickens County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
37 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 17 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 2024, with 13 claims and $1.0M paid, the year of Hurricane Debby and Hurricane Helene.
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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Pickens County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the South Carolina flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 21, 2026 |
| Table Rock Fire Complex | Mar 23, 2025 |
| Table Rock Fire | Mar 21, 2025 |
| Hurricane Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Hurricane Debby | Aug 4, 2024 |
| Hurricane Idalia | Aug 29, 2023 |
| Hurricane Ian | Sep 25, 2022 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 12, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
40 since 1996: 31 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $7,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $300,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 27, 2024 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | $500,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | $1.5M |
— = 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…
Flash Flood · Jan 9, 2024. A major/complex frontal system brought widespread rain with embedded thunderstorms to upstate South Carolina, mainly during the late morning and afternoon of the 9th. Widespread rainfall amounts of 3 to 5 inches (with locally higher amounts) in around 12 hours resulted in numerous reports of flooding. Isolated severe thunderstorms also resulted in a a few damaging wind gusts reports over the Piedmont.
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 Pickens 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.