241 flood insurance claims·$4.1M 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 Nacogdoches 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 thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Nacogdoches County, backed by 82 flash flood events recorded over the last 30 years compared to very few tropical storm, hurricane, and standard flood events. Recent severe weather patterns are illustrated by events in April and May 2025, when upper-level troughs, daytime heating, and stationary fronts interacted with warm, moist air masses to produce heavy, localized downpours across East Texas.
National Flood Insurance Program records demonstrate that property owners in both designated high-risk and lower-risk zones experience flooding. Zone A leads with 100 historical claims averaging an 4-inch water depth and a $29,118 payout, while Zone X records fewer claims (36) but shows a higher average severity with 34 inches of recorded water depth and a $40,525 payout. Additionally, properties categorized under Zone UNKNOWN, Zone X_SHADED, and Zone X_UNSHADED have filed 103 combined claims with average water depths ranging from 1 to 2 inches. Homeowners in designated Special Flood Hazard Areas like Zone A, as well as property owners in Zone X who face deeper, less frequent inundation, should pay the closest attention to these risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
29% of Nacogdoches County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
143 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 1979, with 70 claims and $511,926 paid, the year of Severe Storms & 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.
56 NOAA storm reports from Nacogdoches County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1975, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Beryl | Jul 5, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 26, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storms Marco And Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
| Hurricane Gustav | Aug 27, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
88 since 1996: 82 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Nov 24, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 6, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 2, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 28, 2024 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 2, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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 · May 6, 2025. An upper level low pressure system over the Desert Southwest shifted east through the Intermountain West on May 6th, inducing surface low development over West Texas. This also resulted in a tightening pressure gradient across the Southern Plains and Lower Mississippi Valley, with increased southerly low level winds allowing for a warm front to shift north to the I-20 corridor of East Texas and North Louisiana bef…
Flash Flood · Apr 5, 2025. A stationary front extended across portions of Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas during the early morning hours on April 4th, but lifted north into Southeast Oklahoma and Western Arkansas during the day. This was in response to an intensifying low level jet that developed ahead of a large upper trough that extended from the Intermountain West into the Plains, which provided the necessary lift across the very…
Flash Flood · May 2, 2025. An upper level trough traversed east across the Southern Plains on May 2nd, which reinforced a weak cold front southeast into portions of extreme Northeast Texas and Southwest Arkansas along the I-30 corridor by afternoon. Strong daytime heating contributed to ample air mass destabilization through the day across the warm and moist sector ahead of the front, with scattered severe thunderstorms developing by midday…
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 Nacogdoches 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.