6 flood insurance claims·$492,970 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 Radford city, 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.
River and general flooding driven by heavy rainfall dominate the flood character of Radford, with 12 recorded flood events, two flash flood events, and one tropical storm over the past 30 years. Recent impacts include slow-moving thunderstorms in July 2025 that brought rainfall rates as high as 5 inches per hour, causing localized flooding in the city, alongside inland impacts from Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones. Zone A accounts for 4 claims with an average payout of $116,288 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $6,402 and an average water depth of 3 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $21,414 and an average water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A, which experienced the highest average payouts and deepest average recorded water depths among all zones in the area.
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 5 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 3 claims and $460,730 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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Radford city describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 22, 2026 |
| 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 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Dec 18, 2009 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
15 since 1996: 2 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jul 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 21, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Apr 13, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Feb 7, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Feb 23, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 30, 2018 | $50,000 |
| Flood | Sep 17, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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.
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 · May 21, 2020. An upper-level low became cut-off over the southern Appalachian region for several days leading to persistent rainfall and eventually some flooding. Four-day (96-hour) rainfall amounts ending at 800 AM EDT on May 22nd ranged from 3 to over 12 inches in the most favored locations. Some of the 11-inch+, 4-day rain totals in Roanoke County were within the 200-year recurrence interval (9.78 to 11.8 inches) per NOAA At…
Flood · Apr 13, 2020. A strong cold front extending from a complex surface low pressure system, brought intense thunderstorms which produced damaging winds and very heavy rain on April 12-13. The heavy rains resulted from a deep plume of tropical moisture lifted northward ahead of the cold front. Heavy rain began during the evening of April 12th and exited the region shortly after sunrise on the 13th, lasting roughly a 12-hour period.…
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 Radford city 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.