26 flood insurance claims·$430,663 paid·6 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 Pittsylvania 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.
Pittsylvania County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by regular flood and flash flood events, alongside occasional tropical storms. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database has recorded 56 flood events, 55 flash flood events resulting in 2 deaths, and 3 tropical storm events. Recent weather patterns illustrate this risk, such as January 2024, when deep moisture transport from the Gulf of Mexico and high precipitable water values caused significant flooding and flash flooding across the area. Another flood event occurred on January 27 and 28, 2024, driven by an upper-level low-pressure system and occluded front that brought storm-total rainfall amounts to Pittsylvania and Halifax Counties well above normal per NWS climatology data.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate historical claims across multiple zones, with the highest claim volume occurring in shaded Zone X with 17 claims averaging an 11,343 dollar payout and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Zone X recorded 6 claims with an average payout of 37,313 dollars and an average water depth of 1 inch. Zone A registered 2 claims with an average payout of 35,097 dollars and an average water depth of 2 inches, while Zone UNKNOWN recorded 1 claim with an average payout of 1,539 dollars and an average water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in shaded Zone X and standard Zone X should pay the closest attention to these flood patterns, given the documented claim history and recorded water depths in those areas.
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 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 2018, with 4 claims and $163,563 paid, the year of Hurricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael.
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.
55 NOAA storm reports from Pittsylvania County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 6 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 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 11, 2021 |
| Tropical Storm Michael | Oct 9, 2018 |
| Hurricane Florence | Sep 13, 2018 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
114 since 1996: 55 flash floods and 56 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Sep 30, 2024 | $25,000 |
| Flood | Jan 28, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 27, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | $130,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jun 11, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 11, 2021 | — |
— = 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 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…
Flood · Jan 27, 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…
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…
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 Pittsylvania 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.