8 flood insurance claims·$180,912 paid·6 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 Upshur 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 severe storm systems dominates the flood history of Upshur County, accounting for 41 events and 1 death over the last 30 years, alongside single recorded events for tropical storms and general flooding. Recent flash flood events occurred in May 2022 and August 2022, driven by slow-moving thunderstorms, rich Gulf moisture, and surface low-pressure systems interacting with stationary fronts.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that flood risks extend across multiple zones. Zone X recorded 5 claims with an average payout of $35,578 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inches. Zone A recorded 2 claims with an average payout of $31,517 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inches, while properties with an unknown zone recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $7,082 and an average water depth of 1 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in both mapped high-risk areas like Zone A and moderate-to-low risk areas like Zone X, given that insurance claims and water depths have been documented across multiple hazard designations.
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 1 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 2025, with 2 claims and $78,007 paid.
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.
19 NOAA storm reports from Upshur County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1966, 6 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 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 17, 2016 |
| Wildfires | Aug 30, 2011 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
| Wildfires | Mar 14, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
43 since 1996: 41 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 22, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 21, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 12, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 22, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 13, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 20, 2013 | $10,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 4, 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 · Aug 22, 2022. A large upper trough shifted southeast into the Four State Region on August 21st through the 22nd, along the backside of an upper level low pressure system over the Great Lakes. This trough slowed as it entered the region, and interacted with rich Gulf moisture and available heating to help focus scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms across the area. Given the weak steering currents aloft, these thunders…
Flash Flood · Aug 21, 2022. A large upper trough shifted southeast into the Four State Region on August 21st, along the backside of an upper level low pressure system over the Great Lakes. This trough slowed as it entered the region, and interacted with rich Gulf moisture and available heating to help focus scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms across the area. Given the weak steering currents aloft, these thunderstorms were slow m…
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…
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 Upshur 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.