2,309 flood insurance claims·$33.7M paid·7 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 Bexar County, Texas. 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 thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Bexar County, accounting for 396 recorded events and 46 deaths over the last 30 years compared to 41 general floods and 1 tropical storm. Recent activity includes heavy rainfall from May 2025 storms driven by upper-level shortwave troughs interacting with stationary and cold fronts across South-Central Texas.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend well beyond designated high-risk areas. Zone X properties account for 980 claims with an average payout of $19,099 and an average recorded water depth of 18 inches. Zone A properties recorded 936 claims averaging $25,300 with an average water depth of 9 inches. Additionally, shaded Zone X properties averaged $33,786 per claim with an average water depth of 4 inches, while unshaded Zone X properties averaged $20,145 with an average water depth of 5 inches. Properties with unknown zones logged 193 claims averaging $5,314 with an average water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in both traditional high-risk zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas, where substantial water depths and claim histories demonstrate significant vulnerability to flash flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
17% of Bexar County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,136 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 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 1998, with 412 claims and $11.5M paid, the year of Tropical Storm Charley and Flooding 10/18/98.
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.
96 NOAA storm reports from Bexar County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
30 federal disaster declarations since 1988, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Duke Fire | Mar 4, 2025 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storms Marco And Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Hurricane Hanna | Jul 25, 2020 |
| Hurricane Harvey | Aug 23, 2017 |
| Pat Gross Fire | Sep 9, 2011 |
| Big Oak Fire | Sep 8, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
438 since 1996: 396 flash floods and 41 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 31, 2025 | — · 2 killed |
| Flash Flood | May 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 28, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 12, 2025 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jun 12, 2025 | $23.0M · 11 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jun 12, 2025 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 11, 2025 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 31, 2025. A frontal boundary moved into a moist airmass and generated thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced heavy rain. Two to four inches of rain fell in the Salado Creek basin in northern San Antonio. This rainfall led to flash flooding.
Flash Flood · May 30, 2025. Thunderstorms formed along a slow-moving cold front in Central Texas and moved through South-Central Texas. The slow movement led to high rainfall rates and locally heavy rain which in turn led to flash flooding.
Flash Flood · May 28, 2025. An upper-level shortwave trough moved across a stationary front that was stretched across Central Texas. Some of these storms moved into South-Central Texas producing damaging wind gusts and large hail. There were also a few reports of heavy rain leading to flash flooding.
Flash Flood · May 26, 2025. An upper-level shortwave trough moved across a cold front over South-Central Texas and generated thunderstorms. The warm, moist airmass had steep mid-level lapse rates, and some of the storms produced large hail. There were also a few reports of damaging wind gusts and heavy rain that led to flash flooding.
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 Bexar 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.