4,787 flood insurance claims·$184.7M paid·1 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 Davidson 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 severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall dominates Davidson County, accounting for 141 events and 6 deaths over the last 30 years, alongside 29 broader flood events resulting in 10 deaths. Recent impacts include a potent storm system on March 15, 2025, which brought multiple rounds of thunderstorms and severe weather, as well as a major flooding event on February 15-16, 2025, driven by well-above-average moisture and heavy rainfall across Middle Tennessee.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend beyond high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 3,426 claims with an average payout of $50,847 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. However, properties in lower-risk designations also experience significant water intrusion. Shaded Zone X properties recorded an average water depth of 18 inches with an average payout of $50,434 across 107 claims, while unshaded Zone X properties averaged 8 inches of water and $48,753 per claim across 152 claims. Zone X overall recorded 875 claims with an average payout of $35,590 and an average water depth of 8 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located in Zone A as well as shaded Zone X areas, where average recorded water depths reach up to 18 inches per claim, demonstrating that significant flood risks exist both inside and outside mapped high-risk flood zones.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
7% of Davidson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
3,686 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 9 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 2010, with 2,315 claims and $135.4M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-line Winds, and Tornadoes.
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.
56 NOAA storm reports from Davidson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Tennessee flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 1 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 And Tornadoes | Dec 9, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornado | Mar 1, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Dec 22, 2022 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 10, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 25, 2021 |
| Explosion | Dec 25, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
170 since 1996: 141 flash floods and 29 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 23, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 20, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 3, 2025 | — |
— = 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 · May 20, 2025. Multiple rounds of thunderstorms impacted Middle Tennessee on May 20, 2025. The first round of thunderstorms was a decaying mesoscale convective system (MCS) that produced damaging winds which downed a few trees. The next round was discrete supercells which produced large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. The largest hail reported during this event was in Williamson County where hailstones of two to three inche…
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 · 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…
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 Davidson 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.