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Cape Girardeau County, MO flood insurance claims history

1,074 claims under the National Flood Insurance Program on file for flood losses in Cape Girardeau County since 1978, with $11.2M paid. The worst year was 1986 with 201 claims. Cape Girardeau County ranks #9 of 107 in Missouri by claim count.

What the Cape Girardeau County record shows

13% of claims with a zone on file came from outside FEMA's high-risk zones.
No single storm dominates: Midwest Flooding (1993), March storm (2008) and Mid-spring storms (2011) together account for 16% of claims.
Per claim, the costliest named event was Early winter storms (2016), averaging $80K across 15 claims.
2016–2025 brought 29 claims, 74% fewer than 2006–2015 (113). Counts also move with how many buildings held a policy.
The average paid claim is $12K, below the Missouri average of $23K (nominal dollars).
ZIP codes 63701, 63703 and 63755 hold 86% of claims, out of 11 ZIP codes with any.
March through May accounts for 62% of losses.
Cape Girardeau County has more claims than any of its 6 neighbors.

NFIP claims

1,074

1978–2025

Total paid

$11.2M

nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted

Claims paid

87%

931 received a payment

Average payout

$12K

per paid claim

Last 10 years

claims 2017 – 2026

Most recent loss

2025-10-21

data as of 2026-09-08

Look up your ZIP code

Filter by ZIP, year or flood zone to see which floods the claims came from. For a street address, run the printable flood check.

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Flood claims by year

Peak: 201 claims in 1986

'80

'85

'90

'95

'00

'05

'10

'15

'20

'25

Biggest flood events in Cape Girardeau County

Flood event (FEMA name)	Claims	Paid	Avg / claim	Year
Flooding (FEMA general label)	200	$3.2M	$16K	1986
Midwest Flooding	89	$1.4M	$16K	1993
Not a named storm	88	$433K	$5K	1982
Flooding (FEMA general label)	77	$716K	$9K	1995
March storm	40	$760K	$19K	2008
Mid-spring storms	38	$534K	$14K	2011
Flooding (FEMA general label)	26	$113K	$4K	1982
Flooding (FEMA general label)	23	$35K	$2K	1985
Early winter storms	19	$883K	$46K	2015
Early winter storms	15	$1.2M	$80K	2016
Late spring severe storms	6	$28K	$5K	2017
Flooding (FEMA general label)	6	$15K	$3K	1994

58% of claims here fall under these 12 entries.How to read these labels.

Federal disaster declarations for Cape Girardeau County

Cape Girardeau County has been a designated area in 29 declarations since 1973, 26 of them for flooding, storms or hurricanes. Since 2024 it has been included in 2: Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (DR-4929-MO, 2026), Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (DR-4872-MO, 2025).

Declared	FEMA number	Incident	Declared for	Dates of the incident	Aid unlocked here
2026-08-03	DR-4929-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2026-06-04 → 2026-06-18	Public Assistance
2025-05-21	DR-4872-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2025-03-30 → 2025-04-08	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance
2020-03-26	DR-4490-MO major disaster	Biological	COVID-19 Pandemic	2020-01-20 → 2023-05-11	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2020-03-13	EM-3482-MO emergency	Biological	COVID-19	2020-01-20 → 2023-05-11	Public Assistance
2019-07-09	DR-4451-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2019-04-29 → 2019-07-05	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2019-05-20	DR-4435-MO major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	2019-03-11 → 2019-04-16	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2017-06-02	DR-4317-MO major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds and Flooding	2017-04-28 → 2017-05-11	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2016-01-21	DR-4250-MO major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	2015-12-23 → 2016-01-09	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2016-01-02	EM-3374-MO emergency	Flood	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding	2015-12-22 → 2016-01-09	Public Assistance
2013-07-18	DR-4130-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2013-05-29 → 2013-06-10	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2011-05-09	DR-1980-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2011-04-19 → 2011-06-06	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2011-02-03	EM-3317-MO emergency	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm	2011-01-31 → 2011-02-05	Public Assistance
2009-06-19	DR-1847-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2009-05-08 → 2009-05-16	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2009-02-17	DR-1822-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Winter Storm	2009-01-26 → 2009-01-28	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2009-01-30	EM-3303-MO emergency	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storm	2009-01-26 → 2009-01-28	Public Assistance
2008-11-13	DR-1809-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Flooding, and a Tornado	2008-09-11 → 2008-09-24	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2008-06-25	DR-1773-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms and Flooding	2008-06-01 → 2008-08-13	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2008-03-19	DR-1749-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms and Flooding	2008-03-17 → 2008-05-09	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2008-03-12	DR-1748-MO major disaster	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storms and Flooding	2008-02-10 → 2008-02-14	Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2007-12-12	EM-3281-MO emergency	Severe Ice Storm	Severe Winter Storms	2007-12-08 → 2007-12-15	Public Assistance
2005-09-10	EM-3232-MO emergency	Hurricane	Hurricane Katrina Evacuation	2005-08-29 → 2005-10-01	Public Assistance
2003-05-06	DR-1463-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	2003-05-04 → 2003-05-30	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
2002-05-06	DR-1412-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes and Flooding	2002-04-24 → 2002-06-10	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance, Hazard Mitigation
1995-06-02	DR-1054-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Hail, Flooding	1995-05-13 → 1995-06-23	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance
1993-12-01	DR-1006-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding	1993-11-13 → 1993-11-19	Individual Assistance
1993-07-09	DR-995-MO major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms & Flooding	1993-06-10 → 1993-10-25	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance
1982-12-10	DR-672-MO major disaster	Flood	Severe Storms and Flooding	1982-12-10	Individual Assistance
1979-04-21	DR-579-MO major disaster	Tornado	Tornadoes, Torrential Rain & Flooding	1979-04-21	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance
1973-04-19	DR-372-MO major disaster	Severe Storm	Heavy Rains, Tornadoes & Flooding	1973-04-19	Individual Assistance, Public Assistance

OpenFEMA data through 2026-11-02; only declarations naming Cape Girardeau County itself are listed. 14 of these 29 opened Individual Assistance here. What a declaration does and does not pay for.

Flood zones in Cape Girardeau County: which ones the claims came from

High-risk A zones: 872 (81%)Coastal high-risk V zones: 0 (0%)Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X): 125 (12%)Zone not recorded: 77 (7%)

The most common zone on Cape Girardeau County claims is Zone A1–A30 — 408 of 997 claims with a zone on file (41%). 87% were in a high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area.

Flood zone at rating	Claims	Share	Paid	Avg / claim
Zone A1–A30 · high risk, insurance required	408	41%	$4.6M	$11K
Zone A · high risk, insurance required	396	40%	$3.5M	$9K
Zone AE · high risk, insurance required	68	7%	$1.0M	$15K
Zone B · moderate / low risk	46	5%	$301K	$7K
Zone X · moderate / low risk	43	4%	$977K	$23K
Zone C · moderate / low risk	36	4%	$200K	$6K

77 Cape Girardeau County claims have no zone recorded and are left out of the shares above. Which zones require flood insurance →

What caused the flooding

Cause of damage (as coded by FEMA)	Claims	Share
Stream, river or lake overflow	547	51%
Tidal water overflow (storm surge)	298	28%
Accumulation of rainfall or snowmelt	209	19%
Other causes	12	1%
Not recorded	6	1%
Alluvial fan overflow	2	0%

Flood claims by ZIP code in Cape Girardeau County

12 ZIP codes with at least one claim FEMA assigned to Cape Girardeau County.


63701	772	$6.8M	72%	30	2019
63703	91	$1.8M	8%	15	2025
63755	57	$409K	5%	18	2022
Not reported	40	$379K	4%	8	1995
63702	29	$443K	3%	8	1995
63745	21	$507K	2%	6	2011
63740	21	$231K	2%	6	2016
63785	19	$301K	2%	7	2017
63739	17	$172K	2%	5	2017
63770	4	$53K	0%	3	1999
63780	2	$16K	0%	1	1993
63744	1	$34K	0%	1	2008

When does Cape Girardeau County flood?

May accounts for the most flood losses (426 claims, 40%). Claims by month of loss:

Month	Claims	Share
January	26	2%
February	10	1%
March	66	6%
April	172	16%
May	426	40%
June	35	3%
July	69	6%
August	58	5%
September	3	0%
October	32	3%
November	41	4%
December	136	13%

Year-by-year detail

Year of loss	Claims	Paid
2025	1	$0
2022	1	$4K
2019	2	$19K
2018	1	$10K
2017	8	$28K
2016	16	$1.2M
2015	23	$887K
2013	6	$50K
2012	1	$0
2011	39	$563K
2009	1	$0
2008	42	$774K
2006	1	$2K
2005	4	$2K
2003	1	$3K
2002	43	$333K
2001	12	$38K
1999	3	$0
1997	23	$219K
1996	4	$3K
1995	78	$726K
1994	13	$20K
1993	107	$1.5M
1991	5	$4K
1990	9	$11K
1989	4	$9K
1986	201	$3.2M
1985	34	$64K
1984	25	$98K
1983	149	$439K
1982	142	$598K
1981	4	$1K
1980	3	$631
1979	66	$271K
1978	2	$5K

Neighboring counties

Neighbor	Claims	Paid	Outside high-risk
Cape Girardeau County (this page)	1,074	$11.2M	13%
Scott County	484	$4.4M	11%
Alexander County, IL	444	$3.2M	9%
Perry County	259	$5.0M	3%
Bollinger County	116	$2.3M	18%
Union County, IL	109	$443K	1%
Stoddard County	102	$1.1M	16%

All 107 Missouri counties → · County and ZIP rankings →

Common questions about flooding in Cape Girardeau County

Has Cape Girardeau County flooded recently?: The most recent flood loss with an insurance claim on file was on 2025-10-21, in FEMA data through 2026-09-08. Claims were filed in 5 of the 10 years to 2026 (13 claims).
Has Cape Girardeau County had a FEMA disaster declaration?: Yes — Cape Girardeau County has been named a designated area in 29 federal disaster declarations since 1973. The most recent is Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (DR-4929-MO, declared 2026-08-03). Since 2024 there have been 2. See the full list with dates and aid programs →
What flood zone is Cape Girardeau County in?: No single zone covers a whole county. Across 997 Cape Girardeau County claims with a zone on file, the most common was Zone A1–A30 (41%), and 87% were in a high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. For one address, use the flood check.

Look up another place

Source: FEMA NFIP Redacted Claims, FIPS 29031, data as of 2026-09-08. Insured buildings only, never a specific property: see how to check a house and the limits of this data.