312 flood insurance claims·$10.9M paid·9 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 Windham 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 severe summer thunderstorms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk in Windham County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 68 flash floods resulting in 1 death, alongside 60 general floods and 2 tropical storms. Recent events highlight this hazard, including a June 2025 stalled frontal boundary that brought two to two and a half inches of rain and caused isolated poor drainage flooding and a road washout on Westminster W. Road. Additionally, a strong upper-level system from July 9-11, 2023, dropped general rainfall totals between 2.50 and 5.00 inches—with localized amounts around 6 inches across the southern Green Mountains—triggering widespread areal and flash flooding.
NFIP insurance claims data demonstrates that flood impacts extend across multiple zones. Zone A accounts for the highest claim volume with 226 filings, averaging a $49,932 payout and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X properties filed 57 claims with an average payout of $50,488 and an average recorded water depth of 16 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in mapped special flood hazard areas like Zone A, as well as property owners in Zone X facing significant interior water accumulation, should pay the closest attention to these flood risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Windham County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
238 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 8 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 180 claims and $9.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding and 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.
82 NOAA storm reports from Windham County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Vermont flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 9 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 Storm And Flooding | Jul 29, 2021 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Oct 29, 2017 |
| Tropical Storm Irene | Aug 27, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
130 since 1996: 68 flash floods and 60 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 6, 2025 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $20,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $40,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | $100,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 6, 2025. A frontal boundary stalled to the south of the ALY County Warning Area, in tandem with several mid- and upper-level disturbances generated widespread heavy rainfall and scattered thunderstorms across southern Vermont on June 6 and 7. Prolonged, moderate to locally heavy downpours lead to isolated poor drainage flooding in Windham County, with one report of a washout on Westminister W. Road. Over the course of the…
Flood · Dec 18, 2023. An area of low pressure tracked up the East Coast and intensified in the process as it brought widespread moderate to heavy rainfall across southern Vermont on December 18, 2023. The rain fell light to moderate in intensity during the early morning hours, then became heavier during the later morning and early afternoon hours before tapering off. Rainfall totals were between 2 and 4 inches. This rain led to both ar…
Flood · Jul 11, 2023. A strong upper-level system brought widespread rounds of showers and embedded thunderstorms to southern Vermont on July 9-11, 2023. The steadiest and heaviest rainfall occurred from the afternoon hours on July 9 through the morning hours on July 10. Rainfall totals generally ranged between 2.50 and 5.00 inches with some localized amounts of around 6 inches across the southern Green Mountains.||This rainfall result…
Flood · Jul 10, 2023. A strong upper-level system brought widespread rounds of showers and embedded thunderstorms to southern Vermont on July 9-11, 2023. The steadiest and heaviest rainfall occurred from the afternoon hours on July 9 through the morning hours on July 10. Rainfall totals generally ranged between 2.50 and 5.00 inches with some localized amounts of around 6 inches across the southern Green Mountains.||This rainfall result…
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 Windham 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.