48 flood insurance claims·$1.4M paid·2 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 Cannon 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 intense storms dominates the flood risk profile in Cannon County, Tennessee, accounting for 35 of the 36 recorded flood events and 3 deaths over the last 30 years. Recent NOAA records illustrate this pattern, including slow-moving thunderstorms that produced flash flooding on April 23, 2025, and a widespread severe weather event that caused major flash flooding beginning on May 8, 2024.
Federal insurance data highlights the financial impact across different zones. Properties in Zone A experienced 30 claims with an average payout of $53,034 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 15 claims with an average payout of $9,547 and an average water depth of 21 inches, and Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 3 claims with an average payout of $1,212 and an average water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners and real estate agents in high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas designated as Zone A, as well as property owners in Zone X facing significant standing water depths, should pay the closest attention to these localized flash flood hazards.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
9% of Cannon County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
33 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 10 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 11 claims and $482,571 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding.
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.
11 NOAA storm reports from Cannon County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Tennessee flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 2 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, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 8, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Mar 31, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 25, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Apr 30, 2010 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Apr 2, 2006 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
36 since 1996: 35 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 23, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 18, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 2, 2022 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 2, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 27, 2021 | $91,940 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 18, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 23, 2025. Abundant moisture and plenty of instability helped to set the stage for a summer-like afternoon across Middle Tennessee on April 23, 2025. Scattered thunderstorms developed across the area during the afternoon and evening hours. With little forcing and wind shear, these thunderstorms were generally non-severe. However, slow storm motions meant that these nearly stationary thunderstorms were able to produce flash f…
Flash Flood · Mar 15, 2025. A potent storm system brought multiple rounds of thunderstorms and severe weather to Middle Tennessee on March 15, 2025. The main risk for severe weather was associated with a line of thunderstorms that tracks east across Middle Tennessee during the afternoon and evening hours. This line produced one EF-1 tornado near Christiana. As this line moved towards the Cumberland Plateau, it strengthened and caused wind da…
Flash Flood · May 8, 2024. A widespread severe weather event impacted Middle Tennessee beginning in the early morning hours of May 8, 2024, and continued through the early morning hours of May 9th. During this time frame, numerous rounds of severe weather moved through the area, causing widespread wind damage in nearly every county in Middle Tennessee, hail up to 3 inches in diameter, and four tornadoes. One of these tornadoes in Columbia p…
Flash Flood · May 18, 2023. A weak upper-level low moved over Middle Tennessee on May 18, 2023. This combined with plenty of moisture and diurnal heating allowed for scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening hours. With shear values being weak, an organized and widespread severe weather threat did not happen although one thunderstorm in Rutherford County did become severe briefly. The most significant report with t…
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 Cannon 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.