122 flood insurance claims·$1.9M paid·11 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 Refugio 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 weather events dominates the flood risk in Refugio County, supported by 45 flash flood events and multiple tropical storms and storm surge incidents recorded over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include Tropical Storm Harold in August 2023 and Tropical Storm Nicholas in September 2021, which brought significant low pressure systems, coastal storm force gusts, and heavy rainfall to the Middle Texas coast.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage occurs across multiple flood zones. Zone A accounts for 49 claims with an average payout of $19,896 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, various designations of Zone X account for a combined 70 claims, with Zone X recording an average payout of $41,924 and 1 inch of water depth, unshaded Zone X recording an average payout of $11,011 and 2 inches of water depth, and shaded Zone X recording an average payout of $21,076 and 4 inches of water depth.
Homeowners and real estate agents in both designated high-risk Zone A and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas should pay close attention to these flood risks, as properties in both zones have experienced recorded water depths and substantial insurance claims from historical storm events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
39% of Refugio County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
80 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 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 2017, with 40 claims and $987,940 paid, the year of Hurricane Harvey.
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.
21 NOAA storm reports from Refugio County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 11 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Beryl | Jul 5, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storms Marco And Laura | Aug 23, 2020 |
| Hurricane Hanna | Jul 25, 2020 |
| Hurricane Harvey | Aug 23, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
| Tropical Storm Alex | Jun 27, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
69 since 1996: 45 flash floods, 8 river or area floods and 8 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Tropical Storm | Aug 22, 2023 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2021 | — |
| Storm Surge/Tide | Sep 13, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 13, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Jul 8, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 8, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 7, 2021 | — |
| Tropical Storm | Jul 25, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Tropical Storm · Aug 22, 2023. Tropical Storm Harold moved west across south Texas on the 22nd. An area of low pressure developed over the central Gulf of Mexico on the 21st. A large area of high pressure over the central United States into the northern Gulf Coast steered the system quickly westward toward the Middle Texas coast. The low strengthened into Tropical Storm Harold by the early morning hours of the 22nd. Harold increased in strength…
Flash Flood · May 16, 2021. A series of disturbances moving across South Texas produced a line of showers and thunderstorms that moved across the Coastal Bend and towards the Middle Texas Coast throughout the day on the 16th. Locally heavy rainfall led to flooding of roads in Beeville, Port Aransas, and Rockport. Fast-moving water from heavy rain in a drainage ditch in Victoria resulted in one direct fatality.
Storm Surge/Tide · Sep 13, 2021. An area of low pressure over the western Caribbean Sea on September 9th moved west into the Bay of Campeche by the 11th. The low pressure area strengthened to become Tropical Storm Nicholas over the southern Gulf of Mexico on the morning of the 12th. Nicholas moved northward across the western Gulf of Mexico to the lower Texas coastal waters early on the 13th. Tropical storm force gusts reached the Middle Texas co…
Tropical Storm · Sep 13, 2021. An area of low pressure over the western Caribbean Sea on September 9th moved west into the Bay of Campeche by the 11th. The low pressure area strengthened to become Tropical Storm Nicholas over the southern Gulf of Mexico on the morning of the 12th. Nicholas moved northward across the western Gulf of Mexico to the lower Texas coastal waters early on the 13th. Tropical storm force gusts reached the Middle Texas co…
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 Refugio 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.