479 flood insurance claims·$4.5M paid·8 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 Raleigh 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 and general river flooding represent the primary flood hazards in Raleigh County, with NOAA records documenting 39 flash flood events resulting in 2 deaths and 32 general flood events resulting in 2 deaths over the last 30 years. Recent occurrences include flood events recorded in February 2025, driven by consecutive rounds of precipitation fed by warm fronts and moving cold fronts that dropped strips of one to two inches of rain across the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that historical claims span multiple zones, requiring specific attention from property owners depending on their designated risk level. Properties located in Zone A account for the highest volume with 303 claims, averaging $14,624 per payout and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 45 claims with an average payout of $13,166 and an average water depth of 13 inches, while Zone UNKNOWN properties recorded 88 claims averaging $3,231 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Zone X_UNSHADED properties registered 39 claims averaging $5,882 with a 2-inch average water depth, and Zone X_SHADED properties recorded 4 claims averaging $10,591 with an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and Zone X should pay the closest attention to these historical payout and water depth patterns when assessing local vulnerability.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
12% of Raleigh County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
346 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 2001, with 105 claims and $963,333 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding and Landslides.
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.
58 NOAA storm reports from Raleigh County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
29 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 15, 2025 |
| 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, Flooding, Mudslides, And Landslides | Mar 12, 2010 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Dec 18, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
71 since 1996: 39 flash floods and 32 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | $3,500 |
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | $250 |
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | $150 |
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 8, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 5, 2025 | — |
— = 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…
Flood · Feb 15, 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…
Flash Flood · Feb 15, 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…
Flood · Feb 8, 2025. Rain entered the area late on the night of the 7th, then a band of precipitation continued to feed across southern West Virginia and parts of northeast Kentucky and southwest Virginia through the morning of the 8th. This band lifted north with a warm front during the afternoon, then additional scattered precipitation preceded a west to east moving cold front during the evening and night. ||While the majority of t…
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 Raleigh 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.