10 flood insurance claims·$290,058 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 Rusk 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.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 4 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 1994, with 4 claims and $216,454 paid.
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.
2 NOAA storm reports from Rusk County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Wisconsin flood stories →
12 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jul 18, 2019 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes And Flooding | Sep 2, 2002 |
| Flooding, Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Apr 10, 2001 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 26, 2000 |
| Flood-07/20/99 | Jul 4, 1999 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding | Jun 7, 1993 |
| Winds, Hail & Rain | Aug 5, 1977 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
10 since 1996: 9 flash floods and 1 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 31, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 2, 2011 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 22, 2009 | — |
| Flood | Oct 4, 2005 | — |
| Flash Flood | Oct 4, 2005 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 22, 2002 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 5, 2002 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2000 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 31, 2016. A line of thunderstorms developed during the afternoon along a cold front that extended from west central Wisconsin, southeast into north central Iowa. By 3 PM CST, strong storms developed southeast of Elk Mound and moved northeast across Dunn and Chippewa counties of west central Wisconsin. Several bands of torrential rainfall led to localized flash flooding, plus a few storms caused damage in Elk Mound and Alber…
Flash Flood · Aug 2, 2011. A complex of thunderstorms that developed across South Dakota early Tuesday morning, August 2nd, moved eastward into west-central, central and east-central Minnesota, then into west-central Wisconsin during the late morning. Brief severe wind gusts along a bow echo moved across the area, with mainly tree damage. In addition to the wind damage, two waves of thunderstorms that moved across portions of Rusk County, p…
Flash Flood · Jun 22, 2009. Bands of thunderstorms developed across west central Wisconsin the morning of Monday, June 22. These thunderstorms began to train across the same areas in southern Rusk and northeast Chippewa Counties where a large area of two to five inches of rain fell in less than three hours. An automated river gauge near Sheldon, Wisconsin, recorded 4.48 inches of rain that morning, with several observers reporting over 1.50…
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 Rusk 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.