260 flood insurance claims·$5.6M paid·8 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 Harrison 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 severe weather and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Harrison County, Texas. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 83 flash flood events, compared to 7 general floods and 2 tropical storms. Recent severe weather events, such as those occurring in April 2025 and May 2025, brought widespread rainfall amounts of 2 to 5 inches along the I-20 corridor from slow-moving cold fronts and unstable air masses, resulting in repeated flash flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties located in FEMA Zone A have experienced the highest impact with 166 claims, an average payout of $29,557, and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Properties in Zone X_UNSHADED also face risk, accounting for 58 claims with an average payout of $16,955 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, while Zone X recorded 26 claims with an average water depth of 19 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties situated within Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas, where historical claims and water depths demonstrate recurring flood vulnerabilities outside of major tropical events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
27% of Harrison County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
228 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 8 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 2016, with 92 claims and $2.9M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding and Severe Storms 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.
55 NOAA storm reports from Harrison County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1966, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Beryl | Jul 5, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storms Marco And Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 17, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Mar 7, 2016 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Dec 26, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
92 since 1996: 83 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 24, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 11, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 1, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 23, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 3, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 30, 2025. A weak cold front slowly advanced southeast into portions of Northeast Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, into Western Arkansas and Southern Missouri on April 30th, and focused a warm, very moist, and unstable air mass in place across much of East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon through the evening hours. Meanwhile, an upper low pressure area ejected northeast from the Desert Southwest…
Flash Flood · Nov 24, 2025. A mature linear thunderstorm complex developed across the Middle Red River Valley on November 24th and extended from Southwest Arkansas south-southwestward into East Texas and Northwest Louisiana. This thunderstorm complex was slow in its forward propagation eastward while producing areas of 0.5-1 inch/hour rain rates. An outflow boundary from this activity also extended farther westward from Longview to near Waco…
Flash Flood · Jun 11, 2025. Numerous thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a persistent MCS in East Texas during the afternoon of June 11th. Thunderstorms began training ahead of the MCS, and the overlapping segments of heavy rainfall resulted in scattered flash flooding across parts of Smith County and Harrison County. Hourly rainfall rates within this activity were estimated at nearly 3 inches per hour. The uptick in convective covera…
Flash Flood · May 1, 2025. Showers and thunderstorms, some of which contained heavy rainfall, continued from the evening hours on April 30th through the early morning hours of May 1st, along and ahead of a weak cold front that slowly advanced southeast into portions of East Texas and Southern Arkansas. Widespread rainfall amounts of 2-5+ inches fell from April 30th through the early morning hours of May 1st generally along the I-20 corridor…
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 Harrison 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.