22 flood insurance claims·$239,485 paid·3 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 Carroll 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.
Flash flooding from summer thunderstorms dominates the historical flood profile in Carroll County, Virginia, accounting for 62 out of 80 recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside 17 general flood events and one tropical storm.
Recent weather patterns illustrate these localized threats, such as a slow-moving cluster of thunderstorms on March 23, 2022, that produced high rainfall rates near the City of Galax and the community of Fries, and severe thunderstorms driven by a frontal boundary and humid air mass on July 18, 2025.
NFIP claim records show that flood impacts extend beyond high-risk coastal or riverine zones. Zone X recorded 10 claims with an average payout of $24,021 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, while Zone A recorded 7 claims averaging a $6,833 payout with an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone X unshaded recorded 4 claims averaging $10,113 with an average water depth of 2 inches, and Zone Unknown recorded 1 claim with a $0 payout and 0 inches of average water depth. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in both mapped high-risk zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas where historical claims and standing water depths have proven significant.
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 2003, with 5 claims and $23,494 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.
29 NOAA storm reports from Carroll County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1977, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Flooding | Feb 10, 2025 |
| Post-tropical Cyclone Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Tropical Storm Helene | Sep 25, 2024 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 13, 2018 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
80 since 1996: 62 flash floods and 17 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 18, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2023 | $25,000 |
| Flood | Mar 23, 2022 | $3,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 21, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Jul 11, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 29, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 18, 2025. A frontal boundary approaching from the north combined with a hot and humid air mass to produce scattered severe thunderstorms across southwest Virginia. Damaging wind gusts from these storms blew down several trees and power lines with one of the trees falling on to a house in Bedford County, and hail up to the size of quarters fell in Bedford and Henry counties.
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 15, 2023. A trough of low pressure was situated from Buckingham County, VA southeast through Alleghany County, NC during the evening of the 15th, while a cold front was advancing eastward across the mountains. A wave of low pressure passing along the front over western North Carolina served to increase low level winds into the 20 kt-25 kt range from the south, tapping into deep moisture. By 8 pm EDT, precipitable water v…
Flood · Mar 23, 2022. A slow moving cluster of thunderstorms that lasted just over an hour passed near the City of Galax and the community of Fries in the evening of the 23rd. Despite modest instability of 250-500 J/kg of surface-based CAPE, an anomalously-high precipitable water estimate of about 1.2 inches created a healthy environment for strong rainfall rates embedded in convective systems. MRMS FLASH returns were unimpressive dur…
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 Carroll 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.