16 flood insurance claims·$290,998 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 Hancock 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.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 7 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 2015, with 4 claims and $100,064 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.
2 NOAA storm reports from Hancock County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Tennessee flood stories →
19 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 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 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 26, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 19, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Flooding | Feb 15, 2015 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Feb 14, 2003 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jan 23, 2002 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
12 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 1, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 7, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Feb 10, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2015 | — |
| Flood | Sep 26, 2009 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 25, 2009 | — |
| Flood | Feb 21, 2003 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2003 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 1, 2022. A weak warm frontal passage aided convective downpours in a weak steering environment as it moved northward.
Flash Flood · Feb 7, 2019. A warm, moist, Gulf air mass was in place across the area, with a weak surface trough located over the Cumberland Plateau, which helped focus rainfall amounts of a few inches over parts of northeast Tennessee.
Flood · Feb 10, 2018. At 500 MB, a strong western Atlantic high pressure ridge and a deep low pressure trough over the High Plains were denoted at the surface by a slow-moving cold front over the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys. This resulted in unseasonably warm and humid conditions across east Tennessee and southwest Virginia, and widespread heavy rains.
Flash Flood · Jul 14, 2015. A continuation of severe weather from the previous day involved convection which developed early in the day in association with an overnight outflow boundary followed by the main event involving a meso-scale convective system driving southeast into a moderately to highly unstable air mass. An amplifying upper level trough building east through the Ohio Valley added sufficient wind energy for strong and organized s…
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 Hancock 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.