312 flood insurance claims·$5.7M 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 Summers 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 river flooding dominate the flood risk profile in Summers County, supported by 21 recorded flash flood events and 10 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent historical data highlights the seasonal mechanics of these events, including heavy winter rainstorms driven by deep Gulf moisture fetch in January and February 2025, as well as intense warm-season downpours such as a May 2024 thunderstorm that dropped an estimated 1 to 1.5 inches of rain on the town of Hinton within a 30-minute period.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood risk extends across multiple zones, with the vast majority of claims concentrated in high-risk areas. Specifically, Zone A accounts for 258 claims with an average payout of $20,796 and an average recorded water depth of 14 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 25 claims with an average payout of $19,843 and an average water depth of 17 inches, and shaded Zone X recorded 15 claims averaging $19,630 with a 12-inch average water depth. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where repeated claims and average water depths exceeding one foot demonstrate persistent vulnerability to both riverine flooding and intense localized flash events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Summers County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
275 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 14 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 119 claims and $2.8M paid, the year of 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.
15 NOAA storm reports from Summers County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 6 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 Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jun 22, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 13, 2015 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
31 since 1996: 21 flash floods and 10 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 15, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Mar 1, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 21, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 18, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jan 19, 2019 | — |
— = 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…
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…
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…
Flash Flood · May 15, 2024. A thunderstorm produced an intense downpour in the town of Hinton with an estimated 1 to 1.5 inches falling within a 30 minute period, which could be as high as a 50-year Average Recurrence Interval per NOAA Atlas 14 Point Precipitation Frequency estimates.
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 Summers 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.