186 flood insurance claims·$2.3M paid·7 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 Halifax 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 Halifax County is dominated by standard river and stream flooding, backed by a significant history of flash flood events over the last 30 years alongside occasional tropical storm impacts. Recent historical events documented by NOAA include multiple severe flooding episodes in January 2024, driven by strong upper-level troughs and occluded fronts pulling deep moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, which produced well-above-normal precipitable water values and heavy storm-total rainfall across the county.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that properties situated in FEMA Zone A experience the heaviest financial and physical impacts, accounting for 142 historical claims with an average payout of $16,892 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Claims are also distributed across other designations, including 21 claims in Zone UNKNOWN with an average payout of $5,027 and an average water depth of 1 inch, 10 claims in Zone X_UNSHADED averaging $3,721 with an average water depth of 10 inches, 9 claims in Zone X_SHADED averaging $14,499 with an average water depth of 2 inches, and 3 claims in Zone D averaging $2,133 with an average water depth of 1 inch. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and other mapped flood zones where historical claims and standing water depths are documented.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
12% of Halifax County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
162 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 4 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 1979, with 46 claims and $311,696 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.
67 NOAA storm reports from Halifax County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Flooding | Feb 10, 2025 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storm Michael | Oct 9, 2018 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 13, 2018 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Ida And A Nor'east | Nov 11, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
177 since 1996: 51 flash floods and 123 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 28, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 24, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 21, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 18, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 14, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 10, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Aug 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 28, 2024. An upper level low pressure system passed up the Ohio River Valley on the 28th, drawing an associated occluded front across the central Appalachians. Strong southerly windflow ahead of the front brought precipitable water values ranging from 1.2 to nearly 1.4 inches to over the Southside area of Virginia, which is between two and three standard deviations above normal per NWS climatology data. This resulted in s…
Flash Flood · Sep 24, 2024. A warm front was situated across central Virginia and North Carolina, while a stationary front was positioned across Kentucky and West Virginia, which kept a highly moist airmass over the region. Lift across the warm front and increasing instability via diurnal heating through the day resulted in an increase in coverage and intensity of storms. Some of the storms were severe producing damaging winds and large hail…
Flood · Sep 21, 2024. A nearly stationary front that extended south from West Virginia into Western Virginia and North Carolina Piedmont served as the focus for thunderstorm development during the afternoon of September 25. Some clearing allowed for an increase in instability, but not quite enough to support widespread severe thunderstorms. Favorable upper level divergence was also present over the area as an upper low closed off over…
Flash Flood · May 18, 2024. A training line of thunderstorms occurred just west of South Boston, producing between three and four inches of rainfall within a span of three hours. Rainfall rates at times were observed to be in excess of 3.5 inches per hour. Runoff from this rainfall collected in Poplar Creek, causing the creek to rise out of its banks in the town of South Boston, resulting in flooding of roads near the Dan River. FLASH dat…
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 Halifax 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.