59 flood insurance claims·$378,307 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 Tyler 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.
Tyler County experiences frequent flooding driven by standard flood events rather than flash floods, recording 45 general flood events compared to 33 flash floods over the last 30 years. These events are often triggered by slow-moving warm and cold fronts interacting with low-pressure systems, bringing rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms. For example, a stalled frontal boundary brought persistent precipitation in April 2025, and successive weather systems caused flooding in February and May 2025.
NFIP claims data illustrates that financial impacts extend across multiple zones. Zone A leads with 26 claims averaging an 11,160 dollar payout and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties with unknown zones recorded 21 claims with an average payout of 8,317 dollars and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, while Zone X accounts for 12 claims averaging a 4,435 dollar payout and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties in Zone A, which shows the highest claim frequency and deepest average water levels, as well as unmapped or unknown zones where flood risk and historical claims remain documented.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Tyler County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
26 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 3 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 1985, with 10 claims and $94,526 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.
55 NOAA storm reports from Tyler County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1985, 6 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 11, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 2, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 28, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 8, 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.
78 since 1996: 33 flash floods and 45 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 11, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Apr 11, 2024 | $6,000 |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Apr 3, 2024 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 30, 2025. A warm front lifted into the vicinity of West Virginia on the night of May 29th and remained present overhead until being ushered east by a low the evening of the 30th. Behind this system, a cold front approached from the north and slowly descended southward through the area on the 31st.||Rounds of rain and storms moved across the area on the 30th, with several severe thunderstorms downing power lines and numerous…
Flood · Feb 16, 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 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 · Apr 4, 2025. A line of showers and thunderstorms followed a warm front across the Middle Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians during the morning of April 3rd. A cold front brought more precipitation into the area the night of the 3rd and then stalled over West Virginia through the morning of the 4th. Showers continued in the vicinity of the boundary which slid to the south on the afternoon of the 4th before being lifted north…
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 Tyler 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.