807 flood insurance claims·$11.4M paid·7 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 Cabell 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.
Flash flooding from intense precipitation events dominates Cabell County, accounting for 58 recorded events and 3 deaths over the last 30 years, alongside 47 general flood events resulting in 1 death. Recent flood events from February 2025 illustrate this pattern, driven by approaching low pressure systems, substantial overnight rainfall, and warm fronts that produced thunderstorms, damaging winds, and downed trees and power lines.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that properties situated within Zone A face the highest risk, registering 485 claims with an average payout of $20,765 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Properties in Zone UNKNOWN, Zone X, Zone X_UNSHADED, and Zone X_SHADED have also experienced damage, with claims averaging between 1 and 4 inches of recorded water depth and payouts ranging from $5,252 to $17,818. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, where historical claims 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.
2% of Cabell County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
495 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 110 claims and $725,850 paid, the year of Severe Storms & Flooding.
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.
82 NOAA storm reports from Cabell County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
32 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 2, 2024 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Feb 27, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 10, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 13, 2015 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2015 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 29, 2012 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
105 since 1996: 58 flash floods and 47 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Sep 24, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 20, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 19, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 17, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | $500 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Sep 24, 2025. Showers and thunderstorms spread across the state as a cold front approached from the northwest on September 24th. Following a brief lull in the evening, activity redeveloped as the front approached the Ohio River late that night and then continued east across West Virginia on the 25th. Although the front exited the area by the evening of the 25th, scattered showers continued into the night due to an approaching u…
Flash Flood · Jul 20, 2025. A stalled cold front settling over West Virginia set forth multiple days of active weather around the area from July 17th to the 21st. The boundary eventually slid north as a warm front on the 19th of July while a disturbance passed across the Great Lakes region and took aim for New England. A secondary cold front approached from the north and then sank down through the middle Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians…
Flood · Jul 19, 2025. A stalled cold front settling over West Virginia set forth multiple days of active weather around the area from July 17th to the 21st. The boundary eventually slid north as a warm front on the 19th of July while a disturbance passed across the Great Lakes region and took aim for New England. A secondary cold front approached from the north and then sank down through the middle Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians…
Flood · Feb 17, 2025. Light precipitation started to arrive on the evening of February 14th due to an approaching low pressure system, with more substantial rain spreading across the area overnight into the 15th as a warm front approached from the south. This promoted a brief instance of thunderstorms on the morning of February 15th, with damaging winds knocking down trees and power lines to parts of the state. While shower coverage di…
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 Cabell 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.