160 flood insurance claims·$1.2M 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 Smyth 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 general flooding dominate Smyth County, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 34 flash flood events and 31 flood events over the last 30 years. Recent significant events include heavy rainfall and flash flooding driven by tropical moisture associated with Hurricane Helene in September 2024, as well as moisture pooling along a warm front that caused flooding and flash flooding in February 2025.
Federal insurance data indicates that properties situated in high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas experience the most severe impacts. Specifically, properties in Zone A have accounted for 102 National Flood Insurance Program claims, with an average payout of $15,216 and an average recorded water depth of 19 inches. Claims have also been recorded in other zones, including 22 claims in Zone X_SHADED with an average payout of $3,019 and an average water depth of 8 inches, 15 claims in Zone X with an average payout of $5,882 and an average water depth of 1 inch, 13 claims in Zone UNKNOWN with an average payout of $3,847 and an average water depth of 3 inches, and 8 claims in Zone X_UNSHADED with an average payout of $8,619 and an average water depth of 7 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, where claim frequency and average water depths are significantly higher than in other zones.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
23% of Smyth County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
132 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 14 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 30 claims and $724,049 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.
34 NOAA storm reports from Smyth County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 3 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.
65 since 1996: 34 flash floods and 31 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | $7.0M |
| Flood | May 27, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 26, 2024 | $20,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 26, 2024 | $50,000 |
— = 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…
Flash Flood · Sep 27, 2024. An upper level low was situated in the vicinity of western Tennessee, while a strong upper ridge was positioned over the southeast coast, which helped to steer Hurricane Helene into the Florida Big Bend during the evening of September 26. Ahead of Helene, the Predecessor Rainfall Event (PRE) that developed on the 25th continued to intensify as upper level areas of low pressure rotating around the upper low continu…
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 Smyth 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.