6 flood insurance claims·$237,845 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 Lipscomb 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.
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 2007, with 2 claims and $174,659 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.
4 NOAA storm reports from Lipscomb County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
11 federal disaster declarations since 1998, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Wildfires | Mar 14, 2008 |
| Extreme Wildfire Threat | Nov 27, 2005 |
| Hurricane Rita | Sep 23, 2005 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Extreme Fire Hazards | Aug 1, 1999 |
| Tropical Storm Charley | Aug 22, 1998 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
14 since 1996: 9 flash floods and 5 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 15, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 2, 2023 | — |
| Flood | May 26, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 27, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 19, 2013 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 18, 2008 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2008 | — |
| Flood | Mar 29, 2007 | $18,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 15, 2023. The combined OK/TX Panhandles stayed in a favorable pattern for good amounts of Gulf moisture from the Gulf of Mexico staying around and thunderstorms that drop decent rainfall amounts across the northern combined Panhandles. This led to some flooding on the night of the 14th. Then storms with a little bit more instability late on the 15th created some hail up to an inch in diameter and a severe wind gust up to 6…
Flash Flood · Jun 2, 2023. Multiple rounds of thunderstorms the 2nd through the 4th brought high winds, flooding, and some landspout tornadoes to the combined Panhandles. June 2nd brought high winds and flooding to both the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle. The moisture continued into the 3rd and 4th but with slower moving storms and residual outflow boundaries from the 2nd storms produced heavy long lasting rainfall, as well as landspout torna…
Flood · May 26, 2019. A very strong line of thunderstorms that developed across eastern New Mexico moved east and through the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles the evening of May 26th through the early morning hours of the 27th. As the line of storms initially moved into the western TX/OK Panhandles, they appeared to be more of a line of embedded supercells where an environment of better rotating winds and more instability existed. As a re…
Flash Flood · Aug 27, 2016. An upper level trough to the west of the Panhandles and an upper level high pressure system to the east of the Panhandles brought a continuous stream of sub-tropical air into the region. Weak 700-500 hPa mean wind flow in conjunction with SBCAPE between 1000-2000 J/Kg, storms developed and were training, especially over the northeastern TX Panhandle where the flash flooding report occurred.
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 Lipscomb 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.