8 flood insurance claims·$58,019 paid·5 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 Buckingham County, Virginia. 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.
Flooding in Buckingham County is dominated by standard floods and flash floods driven by heavy rainfall and tropical moisture systems. Over a recent 30-year period, NOAA recorded 33 flood events, 29 flash flood events resulting in one death, and 2 tropical storm events.
Recent events illustrate these risks. On January 9, 2024, a deep upper-level trough and occluded front carried deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the region. Later that year on September 30, 2024, multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms associated with the remnant moisture of Tropical Storm Helene produced localized rainfall rates between three and five inches per hour over already moist soils. On July 24, 2021, a slow-moving series of localized thunderstorms produced intense rainfall exceeding 11 inches during a three- to four-hour period in the Sycamore Creek basin, representing a rare event exceeding a 1000-year rainfall estimate. Another significant flooding event occurred on November 11 and 12, 2020, driven by a plume of deep tropical moisture.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that Zone A properties experienced 8 claims with an average payout of $8,288 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents with properties in Zone A or near creeks and streams should pay the closest attention to these flood risks.
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 3 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 1985, with 3 claims and $24,836 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.
17 NOAA storm reports from Buckingham County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
23 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Flooding | Feb 10, 2025 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Jan 2, 2022 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 13, 2018 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms | Feb 5, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
64 since 1996: 29 flash floods and 33 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 30, 2024 | $35,000 |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 24, 2021 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Nov 11, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Nov 11, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 17, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 11, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Sep 30, 2024. Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms associated with the remnant moisture of Tropical Storm Helene passed across the region, producing localized heavy rainfall across soils that were already moist from previous rainfall. Rainfall rates in several of the storms that developed ranged from between three and five inches per hour and, in a few cases, were higher. Creeks that were already high from recent rainfa…
Flood · Jan 9, 2024. A deep, negatively tilted upper level trough and associated occluded front passed from the central Mississippi River Valley on January 9th toward the lower New England region by the morning of the 10th. Strong southerly wind flow ahead of the upper trough carried deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico northward into the Carolinas and the lower Mid-Atlantic. Precipitable water values ranged from 1.1 inches across…
Flash Flood · Jul 24, 2021. A slow-moving series of localized thunderstorms produced intense rainfall in excess of 11 inches during a 3- to 4-hour period of time during the evening of July 24th, 2021, which is an exceedingly rare event. NOAA Atlas 14 Point Precipitation Estimates put this amount of rain for a 6-hour duration at well over an 1000-year rainfall event, or less than a 0.1% of occurring during any given year. Nearly all of the 1…
Flash Flood · Nov 11, 2020. One of the most significant flooding events in years occurred during November 11th and 12th, given both the amounts of rainfall and the footprint where flooding occurred. In the wake of high pressure passing east off the mid-Atlantic coast, a plume of deep tropical moisture was rapidly carried inland to the central Appalachians ahead of a slow-moving cold front. Though this plume was of tropical origin, it was n…
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 Buckingham 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.