56 flood insurance claims·$928,041 paid·7 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 Live Oak 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 character of Live Oak County, supported by 48 flash flood events, 13 general floods, and 3 tropical storms recorded over the last 30 years.
Significant flood events include major river flooding in August 2022 resulting from a tropical low pressure system that sent a flood wave from San Casamiro Creek through the Nueces River into the county, as well as tropical showers and thunderstorms that produced flooding in June 2020. Hurricane Hanna also brought impacts to the region in July 2020.
NFIP insurance claims reflect risk across various zones. Properties in Zone UNKNOWN recorded 33 claims with an average payout of $26,465 and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Zone A recorded 15 claims with an average payout of $14,642 and an average recorded water depth of 12 inches. Zone X Unshaded recorded 6 claims with an average payout of $2,381 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, while Zone X recorded 2 claims with an average payout of $1,362 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners, journalists, and real estate agents should pay the most attention to properties in unmapped or unknown zones and high-risk Zone A areas where claims and water depths are highest.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
29% of Live Oak County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
21 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 2002, with 42 claims and $868,471 paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding and Tropical Storm Fay.
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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Live Oak County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 7 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 |
| Lagarto Fire | Apr 2, 2009 |
| Wildfires | Mar 14, 2008 |
| Hurricane Dean | Aug 17, 2007 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
64 since 1996: 48 flash floods and 13 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Aug 21, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2021 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2020 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 25, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 7, 2019 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 3, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Oct 29, 2018 | — |
| Flood | Nov 1, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Aug 21, 2022. Very heavy rainfall occurred over Webb and Duval Counties associated with a tropical low pressure system on the 15th and 16th. Flood wave that originated in San Casamiro Creek in Webb County flowed into the Nueces River, Major river flooding occurred from southeast La Salle County through McMullen County to Live Oak County from the 17th through the 24th.
Flash Flood · May 19, 2021. An upper trough rotating across the Rio Grande resulted in widespread shower and thunderstorm development across South Texas during the evening hours of May 18th and continued into May 19th. Redevelopment along a nearly stationary outflow boundary resulted in training of thunderstorms across portions of the Victoria Crossroads and Kleberg County. By the time the event ended, over 13 inches of rain had fallen at Ki…
Flash Flood · Jun 26, 2020. Tropical showers and thunderstorms moved through the Coastal Bend into the northern Brush Country during the morning hours on the 26th. Heavy rainfall produced flooding in Live Oak County.
Tropical Storm · Jul 25, 2020. Hurricane Hanna was the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic Basin hurricane season and made landfall on the lower Texas coast north of Port Mansfield on the afternoon of the 25th. Hanna was the first hurricane to make landfall in Texas since Hurricane Harvey. ||Hanna began as a tropical wave, first noted for possible development when it was near Hispaniola on the 19th. The tropical wave moved northwest across Cub…
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 Live Oak 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.