185 flood insurance claims·$1.2M 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 Brooks 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 summer thunderstorms and tropical systems dominates the flood history of Brooks County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 13 flash flood events, 4 tropical storm events, and 4 general flood events. Recent activity includes Tropical Storm Hanna in July 2020 and a broad tropical wave bringing heavy rainfall and flooding in June 2018. Tropical Storm Harold also tracked across the area in August 2023.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that claims are heavily concentrated in specific hazard designations. Zone A accounts for the vast majority of historical filings with 134 claims, averaging an $8,969 payout and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Properties categorized under Zone UNKNOWN recorded 48 claims with an average payout of $5,196 and an average water depth of 1 inch. Zone X and Zone X_UNSHADED combined for only 3 total claims, with average payouts ranging from $2,378 to $13,953 and average recorded water depths of 1 to 5 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents with properties located in Zone A and Zone UNKNOWN should pay the most attention to flood risk, as these areas account for nearly all historical insurance claims in the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Brooks County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
135 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 2 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 1982, with 66 claims and $224,384 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.
8 NOAA storm reports from Brooks County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
23 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Hurricane Hanna | Jul 25, 2020 |
| Wildfires | Apr 6, 2011 |
| Tropical Storm Alex | Jun 27, 2010 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
| Hurricane Gustav | Aug 27, 2008 |
| Hurricane Dolly | Jul 22, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
21 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 4 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Aug 22, 2023 | $20,000 |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 25, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 19, 2018 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2018 | $150,000 |
| Flood | May 13, 2015 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 12, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2015 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 25, 2010 | $75,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Aug 22, 2023. Tropical Storm Harold made landfall along the unpopulated Padre Island National Seashore on the northern Kenedy coastline just before 10:00AM CDT Tuesday, August 22nd carrying sustained winds of 50 mph with gusts over 60 mph in a small portion of the developing eye. Harold spun quickly across northern Kenedy, Brooks, and Jim Hogg Counties during the day on August 22nd before weakening to a Tropical Depression over…
Tropical Storm · Jul 25, 2020. Hurricane Hanna, the 2020 Atlantic season's first Hurricane, made landfall along the unpopulated Padre Island National Seashore on the mid-Kenedy County coastline as a Category 1 storm at around 5 PM Central Time Saturday, July 25th, carrying sustained 90 mph winds with gusts over 100 mph in a small portion of the inner eye wall. The hurricane spun slowly but steadily into southern Kenedy and northern Hidalgo Coun…
Flood · Jun 19, 2018. A broad tropical wave originating in the western Caribbean Sea moved across the Yucatan peninsula on June 15th and 16th, 2018. The slow moving but persistent system approached the Texas coast on Sunday, June 17th before finally arriving on June 18th. As the center axis of the wave passed the longitude of the coastline, the gates opened to repeated surges of tropical moisture deep into the atmosphere with origins i…
Flash Flood · Jun 19, 2018. A broad tropical wave originating in the western Caribbean Sea moved across the Yucatan peninsula on June 15th and 16th, 2018. The slow moving but persistent system approached the Texas coast on Sunday, June 17th before finally arriving on June 18th. As the center axis of the wave passed the longitude of the coastline, the gates opened to repeated surges of tropical moisture deep into the atmosphere with origins i…
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 Brooks 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.