99 flood insurance claims·$2.7M 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 Pulaski 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 and river flooding dominate the flood history of Pulaski County, supported by 47 flash flood events, 31 general flood events, and one tropical storm recorded over the last 30 years. Recent significant weather events include major flooding and flash flooding driven by deep Gulf moisture troughs in January and February 2024 and 2025, as well as inland impacts from Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage is concentrated in high-risk areas. Zone A properties account for the majority of claims with 82 filings, averaging payouts of $33,274 and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches. However, properties outside designated high-risk zones also experience losses. Zone X properties recorded 12 claims with an average payout of $34,115 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches, while Zone X unshaded areas logged 4 claims with an average payout of $12,250 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, and Zone X shaded areas recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $35,822 and 0 inches of recorded water depth.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A due to the high volume and depth of historical claims, while recognizing that moderate and low-risk Zone X properties also face documented flood risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Pulaski County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
87 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 12 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 2024, with 25 claims and $1.9M paid, the year of Post-tropical Cyclone Helene and Tropical Storm Helene.
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.
35 NOAA storm reports from Pulaski County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
22 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 |
| 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.
79 since 1996: 47 flash floods and 31 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $150,000 |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $7.0M |
| Flood | Sep 26, 2024 | $7.0M |
| Flood | Jan 10, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 21, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Flood | May 20, 2020 | $8,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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 · 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 · Sep 27, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane late Thursday, September 26, and moved quickly northward into the southeastern states, and then turned slightly northwestward towards the southern Appalachian Mountains overnight into Friday morning, weakening as it moved over land. Helene���s intensity and fast forward motion led to impacts being felt well inland, from the Florida…
Flood · Sep 26, 2024. Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida as a powerful Category 4 hurricane late Thursday, September 26, and moved quickly northward into the southeastern states, and then turned slightly northwestward towards the southern Appalachian Mountains overnight into Friday morning, weakening as it moved over land. Helene���s intensity and fast forward motion led to impacts being felt well inland, from the Florida…
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 Pulaski 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.