63 flood insurance claims·$1.6M paid·1 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 Hunt 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 slow-moving systems dominates the flood character of Hunt County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 75 flash flood events resulting in one death, alongside 17 general flood events causing one additional death, and two tropical storm events. Recent recorded events include multiple rounds of heavy rain from a slow-moving upper low in January 2025, and scattered strong storms driven by upper-level disturbances in June 2024 that brought flash flooding alongside hail, damaging winds, and an EF-U tornado.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risks extend across different zones, with varying claim histories. Properties in Zone X recorded 33 claims with an average payout of $33,591 and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Zone A accounts for 25 claims with an average payout of $39,855 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Additionally, Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 5 claims with an average payout of $1,752 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within both Special Flood Hazard Areas like Zone A and moderate-to-low risk areas like Zone X, where historical claims demonstrate that significant water depths and costly damages still occur.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
17% of Hunt County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
30 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 6 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 7 claims and $336,346 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.
20 NOAA storm reports from Hunt County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1990, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Wildfires | Aug 30, 2011 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
| Wildfires | Mar 14, 2008 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 16, 2007 |
| Extreme Wildfire Threat | Nov 27, 2005 |
| Hurricane Rita | Sep 23, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
94 since 1996: 75 flash floods and 17 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jan 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 30, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 3, 2024 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 8, 2023 | $100,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Aug 31, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Aug 17, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 13, 2017 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jan 30, 2025. A slow moving upper low generated multiple rounds of rain, some heavy, the night of January 29 into the morning of January 30 across North Texas. Much of the heavy rain and associated flooding occurred in and near the DFW Metroplex.
Flash Flood · Jun 3, 2024. Upper level disturbances interacted with leftover surface outflow boundaries from nocturnal MCSs and allowed for scattered strong to severe storms across the region each afternoon from June 1st to June 3rd. A combination of hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding occurred, but an EF-U tornado also occurred in Henderson County on the 3rd. One life was lost June 3rd in Henderson County due to a falling tree in stra…
Flash Flood · Feb 8, 2023. Thunderstorms moved across North and Central Texas during the morning and early afternoon of Wednesday February 8. Most storms were sub-severe, but isolated instances of hail did occur. Unfortunately, one flash flood death occurred in Hunt County when a car was swept off the road due to a fast moving swollen creek.
Flash Flood · Aug 31, 2019. A complex of storms associated with a quasi-stationary front produced an outflow boundary that caused additional shower/thunderstorm development ahead of the complex. One storm produced 1.25 inch hail in Rockwall County. Later that night, heavy rain from another storm complex resulted in significant flash flood in and around Commerce.
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 Hunt 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.