224 flood insurance claims·$3.2M 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 Gibson 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 weather events dominates the flood history of Gibson County, Tennessee, accounting for 51 out of 60 recorded flood events over the past 30 years alongside one related death, with general floods and tropical depressions occurring less frequently. Recent events include heavy flash flooding driven by a stalled warm front and Gulf moisture in February 2025, as well as repetitive training thunderstorms along a stationary front in August 2023 that tapped into an unstable airmass with anomalous precipitable water values of 2.3 inches.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners in FEMA-designated Zone A face the highest risk, accounting for 138 claims with an average payout of $22,203 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Additional claims have occurred in Zone UNKNOWN with 62 claims averaging $7,296 and a 2-inch average water depth, Zone X with 15 claims averaging $27,006 and a 3-inch average water depth, and Zone X_UNSHADED with 9 claims averaging $13,681 and a 2-inch average water depth. Residents in Zone A and unmapped or unknown zones should pay the closest attention to local heavy rainfall and flash flood warnings given the prevalence of localized convective flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Gibson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
147 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 6 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 54 claims and $1.9M 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.
20 NOAA storm reports from Gibson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Tennessee flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1971, 4 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 Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Dec 10, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 19, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 5, 2014 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Associated Flooding | Apr 25, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
60 since 1996: 51 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2023 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 4, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 4, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 4, 2020 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 23, 2019 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 23, 2019 | $5,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Feb 15, 2025. An upper-level trough crossed the Four Corners region and dipped into northern Mexico on February 14, 2025. In response, deep southwesterly flow set up over the Lower Mississippi Valley and advected Gulf moisture poleward. Showers and thunderstorms blossomed across the region during the early morning hours on February 15, 2025. Meanwhile, a warm front quickly accelerated northward during the morning of February 15…
Flash Flood · Feb 16, 2023. A warm front lifted north of the area and warm, moist, and unstable air flowed into the Mid-South during the morning hours of February 16, 2023. A strong upper-level jet streak across the Great Lakes produced ascent across the Mid-South resulting in showers and thunderstorms with heavy rainfall and flash flooding across West Tennessee. Later in the day as the cold front approached, thunderstorms intensified and p…
Flash Flood · Aug 4, 2023. A stationary front was situated from southeast Missouri into northwest Tennessee during the early morning hours of August 4, 2023. An extremely unstable airmass was situated along and south of the front with surface-based convective available potential energy values of up to 7000 J/kg. Precipitable water values reached an anomalous 2.3 inches along the boundary. Thunderstorms developed across southeast Missouri an…
Flash Flood · May 4, 2020. A front stalled across the Mid-South started to lift north as low pressure tracked into southwest Missouri. Meanwhile, a potent upper-level disturbance tracked across the region and triggered thunderstorms across Missouri. The airmass across the Mid-South was ripe for severe storms with strong shear and instability in place. Clusters of severe storms moved into northern parts of the Mid-South by mid-afternoon and…
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 Gibson 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.