11 flood insurance claims·$154,534 paid·2 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 Wood 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 thunderstorms and stationary weather systems dominates the flood risk in Wood County, Texas. Over the past 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 59 flash flood events resulting in one death, alongside 12 general flood events and one tropical storm. Recent activity includes a prolonged heavy rainfall event on October 4–5, 2023, which produced training thunderstorms with rainfall rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour near a stationary warm front, and a cluster of strong thunderstorms on April 26, 2024, driven by a low-level jet and warm air advection.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties located within FEMA Zone A have experienced the highest frequency and severity of losses, recording 6 claims with an average payout of $37,241 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Additional claims occurred in Zone X with an average payout of $7,007 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch, Zone X_UNSHADED with a single claim averaging a $29,786 payout and 2 inches of recorded water depth, and Zone UNKNOWN with 2 claims averaging a $3,009 payout and 2 inches of recorded water depth.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within FEMA Zone A, where the highest number of flood insurance claims and largest payouts have occurred.
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 2016, with 3 claims and $3,409 paid, the year of Severe Storms and 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.
36 NOAA storm reports from Wood County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Texas flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1998, 2 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| Hurricane Ike | Sep 7, 2008 |
| Wildfires | Mar 14, 2008 |
| Hawkins Fire | Jan 8, 2006 |
| Extreme Wildfire Threat | Nov 27, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
72 since 1996: 59 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 26, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 4, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 22, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Mar 21, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 10, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 20, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 8, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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 · Apr 26, 2024. A large cluster of strong to severe thunderstorms developed across Northeast Texas late in the afternoon on April 26th. These thunderstorms formed on the north side of a weak surface theta-e gradient, with southwest winds just off the surface aiding in warm air advection and inflow across the region. This cluster of thunderstorms maintained severe intensity for several hours with numerous reports of large hail and…
Flash Flood · Oct 4, 2023. A prolonged period of very heavy rainfall along with severe thunderstorms occurred on October 4th-5th across parts of Northeast Texas. Showers and thunderstorms with 1-3 inch per hour rainfall rates trained in the vicinity of a warm front, which was oriented across the Ark-La-Tex and in adjacent portions of Southeast Oklahoma and Northeast Louisiana. Deep convergence of moisture along the boundary resulted as the…
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…
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 Wood 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.