7 flood insurance claims·$67,166 paid·5 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 Panola 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 storms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Panola County, accounting for 35 out of 39 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside two tropical storms and two general floods. Recent events include a flash flood on May 30, 2024, driven by a convective system propagating from the southern High Plains, and repeated heavy rainfall from slow-moving thunderstorms on June 5, 2021. Additional flash flooding occurred on May 11, 2023, due to an upper-level low-pressure system funneling moisture into East Texas, and on May 5, 2022, associated with a surface low and stationary front.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate historical payouts in areas outside standard mapped high-risk zones. Properties located in Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 5 claims with an average payout of $7,001 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Properties in Zone UNKNOWN logged 2 claims with an average payout of $16,080 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties outside designated high-risk zones, such as those in unshaded or unmapped areas, where localized heavy rainfall and flash flooding have historically caused property damage and generated insurance claims.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
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 1989, with 2 claims and $4,170 paid, the year of Severe Storms & Flooding and Severe Storms, Tornadoes & 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.
16 NOAA storm reports from Panola County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1987, 5 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 |
| Wildfires | Aug 30, 2011 |
| Wildfires | Apr 6, 2011 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
39 since 1996: 35 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 30, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 11, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 5, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Aug 27, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 9, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 12, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 19, 2017 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 30, 2024. Remnants of a pre-dawn mesoscale convective system (MCS) that developed over the southern High Plains propagated downstream into the Ark-La-Tex region during the afternoon hours on May 30th. Diurnal heating and weak convective inhibition allowed for renewed development of severe thunderstorms along the leading edge of this long-lived MCS. Surface temperatures warmed into the 80s ahead of this convection across Eas…
Flash Flood · May 11, 2023. An upper level low pressure system slowly ejected northeast across the piney woods of East Texas during the evening through the morning hours of May 10th-11th. A southerly low level jet present ahead of the low spilled copious amounts of low level moisture north into East Texas and Western Louisiana, with strong large scale forcing ahead of the low enhancing numerous shower and thunderstorm development which moved…
Flash Flood · May 5, 2022. A surface low was centered over the southern Texas Panhandle with a stationary front extending through southern Oklahoma into southern Arkansas eastward into northern Mississippi. A dry line extended southward from the surface low through west Texas into the Big Bend Country along with a cold front draped southwest from the surface low into southeast New Mexico. Aloft, an upper-level low was initially centered jus…
Flash Flood · Jun 5, 2021. Scattered to numerous showers and isolated thunderstorms developed throughout the day on June 5th, ahead of a stationary cut off upper low pressure system over Central Texas. Daytime heating contributed to moderate instability within a very moist air mass in place. These showers and thunderstorms were very efficient rainfall producers as they moved slowly and often trained over the same areas over a given period…
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 Panola 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.