24 flood insurance claims·$268,240 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 Jefferson 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 and standard flooding from severe weather events dominate the local flood history, backed by eight flood events, seven flash flood events, and three tropical storm events recorded over the last 30 years. Recent significant events include severe thunderstorms and flash flooding driven by a stalled warm front in March 2021, and multiple rounds of discrete thunderstorms and multicell clusters producing flash floods in August 2023.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that losses occur across multiple flood zones. Zone A accounts for 13 claims with an average payout of $11,483 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Meanwhile, Zone X records five claims with an average payout of $23,388 and an average recorded water depth of 50 inches, and Zone X unshaded accounts for two claims with an average payout of $24,965 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Zone unknown shows three claims averaging $6,338 with an average recorded water depth of 1 inch, and Zone X shaded records one claim with a $2,400 payout and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within both designated high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas like Zone A and moderate-to-low risk areas like Zone X, where claims data shows substantial average payout amounts and significant recorded water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 11 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 2019, with 5 claims and $90,938 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides.
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.
3 NOAA storm reports from Jefferson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Tennessee flood stories →
21 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, Straight-line Winds, And Tornado | Aug 7, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 19, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 27, 2017 |
| 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.
18 since 1996: 7 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2023 | $2,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2023 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Mar 28, 2021 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Mar 3, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jan 30, 2013 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Feb 28, 2011 | $2.2M |
| Flood | Sep 26, 2009 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 17, 2004 | $15,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 14, 2023. A highly anomalous weather pattern involving a closed low and a trailing cold front brought discrete thunderstorms and multicell clusters in multiple rounds to east Tennessee. Repeat events as well as training of cells resulted in flash flooding, some of it significant.
Flash Flood · Aug 7, 2023. A highly anomalous pattern for August including an unseasonably intense low pressure system created several hours of severe thunderstorms including the final round of storms that grew upscale into a severe mesoscale convective system.
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.
Flood · Mar 3, 2020. Supercell thunderstorms developed during the early morning hours across Middle Tennessee and shifted east ahead of a surface warm front. Wind structure through the atmosphere was sufficient for rotating storms in an environment of weakening instability. Isolated damage was reported on the Cumberland Plateau and Central East Tennessee along a line parallel to Interstate 40.
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 Jefferson 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.