481 flood insurance claims·$7.6M paid·1 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 Tazewell 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 dominates Tazewell County, accounting for 85 of the 126 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 41 general flood events. Recent severe weather events, such as those in January 2025 and February 2025, were driven by deep low pressure systems and upper-level troughs drawing moisture from the Gulf of America into the central Appalachians, causing high precipitable water values well above normal.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties in Zone A have experienced the highest impact with 259 claims, an average payout of $26,930, and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Additional claims occurred across unmapped and shaded or unshaded Zone X areas, including 110 claims in Zone UNKNOWN averaging $3,658 with an average water depth of 3 inches, 54 claims in Zone X_SHADED averaging $13,059 with a 3-inch average water depth, 37 claims in Zone X averaging $24,652 with a 6-inch average water depth, and 21 claims in Zone X_UNSHADED averaging $8,845 with an 8-inch average water depth.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within Zone A, where the frequency and severity of claims are highest, while remaining aware of historical flood risks across all recorded zones.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
22% of Tazewell County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
334 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 6 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 1978, with 72 claims and $189,236 paid.
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.
57 NOAA storm reports from Tazewell County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Virginia flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1976, 1 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 |
| Flooding And Mudslides | Jul 13, 2022 |
| 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.
126 since 1996: 85 flash floods and 41 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 1, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 31, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 29, 2023 | $80,000 |
| Flood | May 29, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 31, 2025. A deep low pressure system moved from the Four-Corners region east across the Gulf Coast states. This resulted in deep moisture flow riding a southwesterly 50-knot low level jet from the Gulf through the central Appalachians and the upper Ohio River Valley beginning early on the morning of the 31st, with precipitable water values rapidly increasing into the 1.1 to 1.2 inch range by sunrise across most of the lower…
Flash Flood · Jul 16, 2025. A hot and humid air mass combined with orographical lift to produce a severe thunderstorm in Bath County of southwest Virginia. Damaging wind gusts from this storm blew down two trees west of Nimrod Hall.
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…
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 Tazewell 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.