60 flood insurance claims·$710,309 paid·5 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 Campbell County, Tennessee. 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 heavy rainfall and severe thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Campbell County, TN, accounting for 19 of the 29 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 10 general flood events. Recent documented events include flash flooding driven by a stalled warm front and thunderstorms in March 2021, as well as heavy rainfall from a strong synoptic system combined with a cold front in February 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage occurs across multiple zones, with the highest concentration of claims in Zone A at 38 claims averaging $19,727 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Additional claims are distributed across Zone UNKNOWN with 13 claims averaging $2,680 and an average water depth of 2 inches, Zone X with 7 claims averaging $10,499 and an average water depth of 1 inch, and Zone X_UNSHADED with 2 claims averaging $18,209 and an average water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within high-risk Zone A, where the majority of historical flood insurance claims and payouts are concentrated, as well as properties in unmapped or moderate-risk zones that remain vulnerable to flash flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Campbell County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
40 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 2 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 2021, with 11 claims and $214,639 paid.
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.
6 NOAA storm reports from Campbell County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Tennessee flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 2, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornado | Mar 1, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 25, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 12, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 19, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Flooding | Feb 15, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Associated Flooding | Apr 25, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
29 since 1996: 19 flash floods and 10 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 9, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 28, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 28, 2021 | $353,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 8, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 7, 2019 | $6.4M |
| Flood | Feb 10, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Feb 16, 2025. A strong synoptic system with heavy rainfall during warm front passage followed by additional rainfall during the severe thunderstorms along the cold front led to reports of flooding in northern portions of East Tennessee. Additionally, strong winds powered by strong winds aloft mixed to the surface, bringing wind advisory conditions to the whole area, a few high wind reports, and some wind damage.
Flash Flood · Jul 9, 2022. A slow-moving cold front was a focus of convective development that led to flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Mar 28, 2021. Thunderstorms with large hail spread northward across East Tennessee during the early morning hours of March 27, reaching southwest Virginia by late morning. These storms were associated with a warm front, which later stalled across northeast Tennessee. This stalled front was the focus of additional thunderstorms that produced damaging wind gusts and flooding in the evening of March 27 and into March 28.
Flash Flood · Jul 1, 2020. Surface boundaries among a humid air mass, combined with a northwesterly steering flow, resulted in convection over the Cumberland Plateau that moved southeastward into the Tennessee Valley.
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 Campbell 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.