311 flood insurance claims·$4.7M 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 Smith 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 driven by slow-moving frontal boundaries and thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Smith County, Texas, accounting for 151 recorded events over the last 30 years compared to 16 general flood events and 1 tropical storm.
Recent NOAA data highlights this pattern, including heavy rainfall and flash flooding along the I-20 corridor during events on May 1, 2025, and May 26, 2025, driven by interacting frontal boundaries, warm moist air masses, and heavy thunderstorms.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay close attention to properties across multiple zones, particularly Zone A, which accumulated 156 NFIP claims with an average payout of $19,219 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Properties in Zone X also warrant careful attention, having recorded 99 claims with an average payout of $29,692 and an average water depth of 10 inches, alongside 44 claims in unshaded Zone X with an average payout of $11,393 and an average water depth of 2 inches. Additionally, 10 claims in unknown zones averaged an $8,205 payout with a 3-inch average water depth, and 2 claims in shaded Zone X averaged a $10,102 payout with a 1-inch average water depth.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
23% of Smith County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
202 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 6 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 33 claims and $64,231 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.
92 NOAA storm reports from Smith County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
33 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| 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 And Flooding | Apr 17, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Oct 22, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
| Wildfires | Aug 30, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
168 since 1996: 151 flash floods and 16 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 24, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 11, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 6, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 1, 2025 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 30, 2025. A weak cold front slowly advanced southeast into portions of Northeast Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, into Western Arkansas and Southern Missouri on April 30th, and focused a warm, very moist, and unstable air mass in place across much of East Texas, North Louisiana, and Southwest Arkansas during the afternoon through the evening hours. Meanwhile, an upper low pressure area ejected northeast from the Desert Southwest…
Flash Flood · May 26, 2025. A weak surface frontal boundary drifted south to near the I-20 corridor of East Texas and North Louisiana during the early morning hours of May 26th, with a warm and moist air mass along and south of the front yielding adequate instability along and south of the front. While scattered strong to severe thunderstorms over portions of extreme Northeast Texas, Southeast Oklahoma, and Southwest Arkansas reinforced this…
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 · Jun 11, 2025. Numerous thunderstorms developed along and ahead of a persistent MCS in East Texas during the afternoon of June 11th. Thunderstorms began training ahead of the MCS, and the overlapping segments of heavy rainfall resulted in scattered flash flooding across parts of Smith County and Harrison County. Hourly rainfall rates within this activity were estimated at nearly 3 inches per hour. The uptick in convective covera…
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 Smith 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.