4,405 flood insurance claims·$117.9M paid·13 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 Hidalgo 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 and general flooding from intense storms dominate the historical flood character of Hidalgo County, supported by 69 flash flood events and 46 flood events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include a tropical disturbance in August 2025 that brought more than two inches of rain in less than two hours across eastern Hidalgo County, as well as historic seasonal rainfall from March 27 to 28, 2025, which produced trusted observations ranging from 8 to nearly 19 inches of rain and widespread flash flooding from south McAllen through Interstate Highway 2.
National Flood Insurance Program records demonstrate that flood risks extend significantly beyond traditional high-risk areas. Properties in Zone X account for the highest claim volume with 1,329 claims averaging $39,252 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches, closely followed by Zone X_SHADED with 1,171 claims averaging $38,406 and an average water depth of 6 inches. Zone A properties recorded 946 claims averaging $27,863 with an average water depth of 5 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 628 claims averaging $33,851 with an average water depth of 5 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in both shaded and unshaded Zone X areas, as well as Zone A, where moderate to heavy claims and measurable water depths occur frequently outside of standard high-risk designations.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
65% of Hidalgo County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
2,747 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 5 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 2020, with 843 claims and $22.9M paid, the year of Hurricane Hanna.
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.
76 NOAA storm reports from Hidalgo County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
32 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 13 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Mar 26, 2025 |
| Hurricane Beryl | Jul 5, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Hurricane Hanna | Jul 25, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 24, 2019 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 19, 2018 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | May 22, 2016 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
119 since 1996: 69 flash floods and 46 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Mar 28, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 27, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 27, 2025 | — · 3 killed |
| Flash Flood | Mar 27, 2025 | $52.0M |
| Flood | Aug 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 12, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 15, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Mar 28, 2025. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms pummeled the Lower Rio Grande Valley, especially during the afternoon and overnight hours of March 27th into early on March 28th, resulting in historic seasonal rainfall and widespread flash and areal flooding across the RGV. Total rainfall ranged from 8 to nearly 19 inches based on trusted observations, with 10 inches or more falling across some of the highest populate…
Flood · Mar 27, 2025. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms pummeled the Lower Rio Grande Valley, especially during the afternoon and overnight hours of March 27th into early on March 28th, resulting in historic seasonal rainfall and widespread flash and areal flooding across the RGV. Total rainfall ranged from 8 to nearly 19 inches based on trusted observations, with 10 inches or more falling across some of the highest populate…
Flash Flood · Mar 27, 2025. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms pummeled the Lower Rio Grande Valley, especially during the afternoon and overnight hours of March 27th into early on March 28th, resulting in historic seasonal rainfall and widespread flash and areal flooding across the RGV. Total rainfall ranged from 8 to nearly 19 inches based on trusted observations, with 10 inches or more falling across some of the highest populate…
Flood · Aug 15, 2025. A tropical disturbance which originated near Honduras on August 13th pushed through the southwest Gulf of Mexico and ultimately moved onshore just south of the Mouth of the Rio Grande, crossing southwest Cameron and southeast Hidalgo County before becoming more diffuse, on August 15th. ||Widespread showers and a few thunderstorms accompanied the disturbance (known as AL-98) across eastern Hidalgo and portions of C…
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 Hidalgo 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.