76 flood insurance claims·$1.6M paid·5 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 Clay 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 dominates the flood character of Clay County, accounting for 33 events compared to 18 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent occurrences include a flash flood on May 13, 2025, driven by a stalled frontal boundary and subsequent thunderstorms, as well as a flood on February 13, 2024, caused by a low-pressure system that dropped one to two inches of rain overnight.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties located within Zone A face the highest risk, recording 41 claims with an average water depth of 20 inches and an average payout of $29,163. Properties in Zone X also experience significant vulnerability, registering 28 claims with an average water depth of 4 inches and an average payout of $26,389, while Zone UNKNOWN recorded 7 claims averaging 1 inch of water depth and a $2,769 payout. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in Zone A and Zone X, where historical claims demonstrate both frequent inundation and substantial average water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Clay County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
41 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 13 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 2016, with 40 claims and $1.4M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides.
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.
41 NOAA storm reports from Clay County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Aug 28, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jun 22, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 10, 2015 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Dec 18, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
51 since 1996: 33 flash floods and 18 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 13, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 11, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 28, 2023 | $1,500 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2023 | $500 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 31, 2022 | $500 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 22, 2022 | $100 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 8, 2022 | $3,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 13, 2025. A frontal boundary stalled over the state of West Virginia beginning on May 11th, then dissolved over the area while a disturbance approached from the southwest on the 12th. Widespread precipitation progressed northward across the area on the 12th, followed by rounds of scattered showers and thunderstorms continuing to impact the area over the next couple of days as an upper level trough and surface low pressure s…
Flood · Feb 13, 2024. Precipitation spread northwest into the area on the afternoon and evening of February 12th due to an approaching low-pressure system. The bulk of precipitation fell across western and central West Virginia as the system moved overhead, with most locations receiving between one and two inches of rain during the night. ||Flooding developed around midnight, with multiple reports of high water spanning Cabell, Kanawha…
Flash Flood · Apr 11, 2024. Showers and thunderstorms developed on the afternoon of April 11th due to the combination of unseasonably warm temperatures and a passing disturbance. Storms crossed in from the Ohio River Valley during the early afternoon and continued an eastward progression into the evening. A swath of tree damage and power outages were observed from Mingo County to the eastern half of the West Virginia from damaging wind gusts…
Flash Flood · Aug 28, 2023. During the early morning hours of August 28th, a ribbon of heavy showers spawned just above the southern West Virginia coalfields and propagated northeastward into the central portions of the state. An inverted surface trough feature festered over the Central Appalachians and was the primary culprit behind this swath of slow moving and heavy rainfall. Precipitation amounts recorded by local weather stations were o…
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 Clay 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.