242 flood insurance claims·$5.2M paid·6 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 Bowie 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 driven by severe storms dominates the flood character of Bowie County, which recorded 83 flash flood events, 6 general floods, and 1 tropical storm over the last 30 years according to the NOAA Storm Events Database. Severe weather patterns have repeatedly threatened the area, notably illustrated by stationary fronts and linear mesoscale convective systems that produced heavy rainfall and flash flooding in April 2024, June 2024, and April 2025.
Federal insurance records highlight that flood risks extend well beyond designated high-risk areas. High-risk Zone A accounts for 135 NFIP claims with an average payout of $29,532 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Meanwhile, moderate-to-low risk Zone X properties recorded 52 claims with an average payout of $43,539 and an average water depth of 16 inches. Zone X Unshaded properties recorded 26 claims averaging $16,892 with an average water depth of 4 inches, Zone Unknown recorded 20 claims averaging $5,632 with an average water depth of 2 inches, and Zone X Shaded recorded 8 claims averaging $3,998 with an average water depth of 7 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in Zone A due to the high volume of historical claims, as well as properties in Zone X where average recorded water depths reached significant levels during past flood events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
20% of Bowie County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
169 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 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 28 claims and $1.5M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds and Flooding.
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.
38 NOAA storm reports from Bowie County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1966, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Beryl | Jul 5, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 26, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storms Marco And Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
| Wildfires | Aug 30, 2011 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
90 since 1996: 83 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 3, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 20, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 4, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 9, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 16, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 5, 2025. A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very…
Flash Flood · Apr 4, 2025. A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very…
Flash Flood · Jun 3, 2024. A linear mesoscale convective system (MCS) advanced southeast into the Ark-La-Tex from Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening hours on June 3rd. A pocket of strong instability was present ahead of the line, where MLCAPE values ranged from around 2500 to 3500 J/kg range and surface dew points were in the 70s. Instability along with strong large-scale ascent associated with a vorticity maxima and low-level conver…
Flash Flood · Apr 20, 2023. An upper level low pressure system shifted east from Montana east into the Dakotas on April 20th, with the attendant trough extending southward through the Rockies before ejecting east through the Central and Southern Plains during the afternoon and evening. A strong southerly low level flow ahead of this trough ushered very warm and humid air back north into the Four State Region on the 19th-20th, which primed th…
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 Bowie 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.