377 flood insurance claims·$3.5M 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 Barbour County, West 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.
Barbour County experiences flood risks primarily driven by regular flood events closely matched by flash flooding, based on NOAA records documenting 38 floods and 31 flash floods over the last 30 years. Recent flooding is exemplified by events in January 2025 and February 2025, when advancing low pressure systems and disturbances brought widespread rainfall that caused local creeks and streams to spill out of their banks, alongside high water issues in low-lying spots and backed-up culverts.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that claims are heavily concentrated in Zone A, which accounts for 269 claims with an average payout of $11,649 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Properties with unknown zone designations also show significant risk with 62 claims averaging $15,255 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches, while zones X and X_SHADED recorded average water depths of 21 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and low-lying areas near local creeks, streams, and culverts should pay the most attention to these flood risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
8% of Barbour County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
293 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 1996, with 148 claims and $1.4M paid, the year of Flooding, Heavy Winds.
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.
56 NOAA storm reports from Barbour County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2015 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Mudslides, And | Jun 3, 2008 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 14, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
69 since 1996: 31 flash floods and 38 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | $1,500 |
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | $150 |
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | $500 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 7, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 1, 2025 | $250 |
| Flood | Feb 1, 2025 | $1,500 |
| Flash Flood | May 25, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 31, 2025. An advancing low pressure system set forth ample amounts of lift and moisture to round out the month of January. Widespread rainfall first entered into the southwestern coalfields of West Virginia on the morning of January 31st, and continued to invade northeastward and up into the higher terrain of the state. Local creeks and streams quickly spilled out of their banks on that day in conjunction with high water is…
Flash Flood · Jun 7, 2025. At the start of the month, a stationary front hovered over Ohio and Pennsylvania on the 5th and 6th of June. The front briefly resumed a southeast march into West Virginia on the 7th before stalling across the area once again. An upper level disturbance finally pushed the front to the north and then sent a cold front through the middle Ohio Valley and central Appalachians on the 8th. ||In the midst of the front ho…
Flood · Feb 6, 2025. Showers first entered into West Virginia on the evening of February 5th as a disturbance skirted by to the south. Precipitation continued into the next day, in addition to a few severe thunderstorms that developed ahead of a cold front in the early afternoon. Strong wind gusts from storms caused numerous downed trees and power line damage across Boone and Lincoln Counties during the early afternoon of February 6th…
Flood · Feb 1, 2025. A low pressure system brought widespread rainfall to the area on the 31st of January, initiating flooding in poor drainage areas and along local creeks and streams. While rainfall ended the evening of the 31st, high water and river flooding continued into early February. River flooding persisted along the Little Kanawha River through the 1st of February, while the Tygart Valley and Buckhannon Rivers did not recede…
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 Barbour 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.