181 flood insurance claims·$3.2M 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 Montgomery 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.
Montgomery County, Virginia is predominantly characterized by flash flooding driven by severe storm events. Over the past 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 71 flash flood events, 35 flood events resulting in 1 death, and 1 tropical storm event. Recent activity includes multiple flash flood and flood events occurring in February 2025, driven by a deep upper-level trough that pulled deep moisture from the Gulf of America and pooled it along a warm front across Kentucky and southwest Virginia, causing precipitable water values to rise significantly above normal.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that flood risks extend beyond high-risk areas. Zone A has recorded 117 claims with an average payout of $26,217 and an average recorded water depth of 14 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X has seen 23 claims with an average payout of $26,472 and an average water depth of 21 inches, and Zone X shaded areas account for 15 claims with an average payout of $6,082 and an average water depth of 11 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within high-risk Zone A, as well as those in Zone X, which have experienced substantial average claim payouts and significant average water depths during flooding events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
21% of Montgomery County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
148 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 1985, with 24 claims and $190,930 paid, the year of Severe Storms & Flooding.
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.
41 NOAA storm reports from Montgomery County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 5 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 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
107 since 1996: 71 flash floods and 35 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 30, 2025 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 30, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 29, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 9, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 30, 2025. Slow moving thunderstorms with rainfall rates as high as 5 inches per hour caused localized flooding in the City of Radford and neighboring Montgomery County. Heavy rain also caused flooding and a landslide in and around the Town of Rich Creek, VA.
Flash Flood · Feb 15, 2025. A deep upper level trough was observed exiting the southern Rockies during the morning of February 15th, with southwesterly windflow ahead of the trough allowing for a fetch of deep moisture from the western Gulf of America. This moisture pooled along a warm front situated across from Kentucky into southwest Virginia, where precipitable water values increased from 0.6 to 0.7 inches at 7 am that morning, to around…
Flood · Feb 15, 2025. A deep upper level trough was observed exiting the southern Rockies during the morning of February 15th, with southwesterly windflow ahead of the trough allowing for a fetch of deep moisture from the western Gulf of America. This moisture pooled along a warm front situated across from Kentucky into southwest Virginia, where precipitable water values increased from 0.6 to 0.7 inches at 7 am that morning, to around…
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…
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 Montgomery 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.