284 flood insurance claims·$4.8M paid·8 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 Rutland County, Vermont. 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 general flooding dominate the historical flood record in Rutland County, accounting for 70 combined events over the last 30 years, alongside 3 lakeshore flood events. Flash floods alone accounted for 2 fatal incidents. Recent NOAA records illustrate these hazards, such as the July 29, 2024 slow-moving thunderstorms that dropped two to three inches of rain in the Rutland and Clarendon area, causing high water and flash flooding. Similarly, training thunderstorms on August 4, 2023, brought torrential rainfall and significant flash flooding to the City of Rutland, resulting in road closures and property and infrastructure damage. A broader flooding event occurred on December 18, 2023, when mild, moist air delivered 1.5 to 3 inches of rainfall combined with 1 to 1.5 inches of snowmelt.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims filed across multiple zones. Zone A carries the heaviest administrative burden with 219 claims averaging a payout of $20,482 and an average recorded water depth of 14 inches. Zone X accounts for 43 claims with an average payout of $16,151 and an average water depth of 15 inches. Shaded Zone X properties recorded 13 claims with an average payout of $26,118 and an average depth of 8 inches, while unshaded Zone X properties logged 7 claims averaging $30,110 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Residents in high-risk Zone A and standard Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to flood risks given the frequency of damaging claims and recorded water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
8% of Rutland County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
239 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 13 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 2011, with 151 claims and $2.9M paid, the year of Hurricane Irene.
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.
43 NOAA storm reports from Rutland County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Vermont flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Tropical Depression Debby | Aug 8, 2024 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Dec 18, 2023 |
| Flooding | Jul 9, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 7, 2023 |
| Tropical Storm Henri | Aug 22, 2021 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 15, 2019 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 29, 2017 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Dec 9, 2014 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
73 since 1996: 37 flash floods, 33 river or area floods and 3 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 29, 2024 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2023 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 7, 2023 | $200,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 4, 2023 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 24, 2020 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 20, 2019 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 15, 2019 | $1.0M |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 29, 2024. Slow moving thunderstorms produced localized rainfall amounts of two to three inches in the Rutland/Clarendon, VT area during late afternoon/early evening of July 29, 2024. A few reports of high water and flash flooding were received.
Flood · Dec 18, 2023. A very deep trough across the eastern seaboard allowed a deep, mild, moist flow from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic ocean to feed into the northeast United States, including VT and NY on December 17th and 18th.||Surface low pressure across Florida on December 17th moved north along the eastern seaboard into New England on December 18th. Mild, moist air delivered 1.5 to 3+ inches of rainfall to northeast NY al…
Flash Flood · Jul 13, 2023. Scattered thunderstorms, some with torrential rainfall affected portions of Addison and Rutland Counties. One to locally four inches of rain fell in a some areas, leading to a few reports of flash flooding and road washouts.
Flash Flood · Jul 7, 2023. Clusters of showers and thunderstorms crossed the Green Mountain state on July 7, 2023. Torrential downpours were frequent with some storms repeatedly training over the southern and central Green Mountains as well in portions of northeastern Vermont where, in some cases, considerable flash flooding occurred.
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 Rutland 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.