947 flood insurance claims·$13.2M paid·4 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 Wood 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.
Wood County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by flash floods and general river floods. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 45 flash flood events and 40 flood events, resulting in 4 deaths. Recent flood events include heavy precipitation and storms occurring in February 2025.
Federal Emergency Management Agency records show that flood claims span multiple zones. High-risk Zone A accounts for the highest volume with 697 claims, averaging an $18,453 payout with an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Moderate-to-low risk and unmapped areas also experience losses; for instance, Zone X_UNSHADED properties recorded 21 claims with an average payout of $24,996 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches, while Zone X accounts for 35 claims averaging $20,568 with an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 154 claims with an average payout of $3,708 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, and Zone X_SHADED recorded 40 claims with an average payout of $23,939 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within high-risk Zone A, while remaining aware that properties in Zone X, shaded Zone X, unshaded Zone X, and unknown zones also face documented flood loss risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
8% of Wood County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
758 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 5 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 2004, with 182 claims and $4.5M 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.
68 NOAA storm reports from Wood County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the West Virginia flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 4 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, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2018 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 10, 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.
85 since 1996: 45 flash floods and 40 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 28, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 17, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 17, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | — |
— = 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…
Flash Flood · Jul 28, 2025. After a brief, but very welcome period of drier weather, showers and thunderstorms returned to the area on July 25th as moisture increased ahead of a cold front. Initially, most of the activity was confined to northern West Virginia and parts of southeast Ohio during the day, with a lull in precipitation overnight. Scattered showers and storms then sprouted up across the area on the 26th, where some activity even…
Flood · Jul 17, 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…
Flash Flood · Jul 17, 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…
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 Wood 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.