46 flood insurance claims·$336,747 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 Chippewa County, Wisconsin. 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 from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Chippewa County, Wisconsin, accounting for 18 of the 21 total recorded flood events in the last 30 years alongside 3 general flood events.
Recent history illustrates these varied flood hazards. In July 2022, training thunderstorms driven by a moist airmass and stationary front caused flash flooding. A separate flash flood occurred in April 2019 due to heavy rainfall, snowmelt, and a partial failure of the Tilden Mill Dam on Duncan Creek, which released approximately 1,500 cubic feet per second into the creek and damaged the downstream Duncan Creek Campground. Earlier in March 2019, severe spring snowmelt combined with storms to cause flooding along the Chippewa and Eau Claire rivers and their tributaries.
NFIP claims data demonstrates that property damage affects multiple zones. Zone A recorded 23 claims with an average payout of $5,088 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Zone X recorded 13 claims with a significantly higher average payout of $30,958 and an average recorded water depth of 45 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 6 claims with an average payout of $913 and an average water depth of 1 inch, while Zone X_SHADED recorded 4 claims averaging $1,006 with an average water depth of 1 inch. Property owners near rivers, streams, and dams, as well as those located in both designated flood zones and higher-risk Zone X areas, should pay the most attention to flood preparedness.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Chippewa County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
27 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 12 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 5 claims and $200,850 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, 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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Chippewa County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Wisconsin flood stories →
11 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Sep 21, 2016 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | May 7, 2004 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Sep 2, 2002 |
| Flooding, Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Apr 10, 2001 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding | Jun 7, 1993 |
| Severe Storms & Flooding | Jul 24, 1980 |
| Drought | Jun 17, 1976 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
21 since 1996: 18 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 9, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 18, 2019 | $100,000 |
| Flood | Mar 15, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 12, 2017 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 31, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 21, 2016 | $882,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2016 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 15, 2022. A stationary frontal boundary across central Minnesota, and an increasing very moist airmass with PWATs near 1.75 early Friday morning, July 15th, was the setup for a flash flood event over Chippewa County Wisconsin. During the early morning, several waves of thunderstorms developed across west central, Wisconsin, and east central Minnesota, and drifted southeast across west central Wisconsin for several hours. Th…
Flash Flood · Jun 9, 2020. The remnants of tropical storm Cristobal moved north-northeast across eastern Iowa, and into southwest and central Wisconsin during the evening of Tuesday, June 9th. The circulation associated with the system brought record high precipitable water values across parts of the Upper Midwest. These high values combined with a nearly stationary area of showers and embedded thunderstorms that moved from southeast Minnes…
Flash Flood · Apr 18, 2019. The combination of recent heavy rainfall, snow melt and very moist ground, led to a partial dam failure on Thursday, April 18th. ||The local Chippewa County Emergency Manager indicated that there was a partial failure of the Tilden Mill Dam, on Duncan Creek north of Chippewa Falls. There was a release of approximately 1500 cfs into the creek. ||Duncan Creek Campground, downstream from the dam, sustained some flood…
Flood · Mar 15, 2019. There were many factors that led to a severe Spring flood melt along the Eau Claire and Chippewa Rivers and several of their tributaries during the last two weeks of March. The first factor was above average snowpack for mid March. Additionally, the added effect of a cold late Winter kept this snowpack deeper into the early Spring. Once temperatures warmed, and snow began to melt, a few storms led to additional wa…
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 Chippewa 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.