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Alexander County, NC flood insurance claims history

6 claims under the National Flood Insurance Program have been filed for flood losses in Alexander County since 2012, and FEMA has paid out $42K on them. The worst year was 2012 with 2 claims. Alexander County ranks #95 of 100 in North Carolina by claim count.

At a glance

  • 50% of claims came from buildings outside FEMA’s high-risk flood zones (B, C or X), where lenders usually do not require flood insurance.
  • 17% of all claims trace to a single event — Hurricane Eta (2020), which paid $17K here.
  • Flood claims were filed in 4 of the last 10 years.
  • More flood claims than 3% of the 100 North Carolina counties with any claims on file — and more than 0 of its 4 neighbors.
  • ZIP 28681 has the most claims in the county (5, 83%). Check your ZIP →
NFIP claims
6
2012–2020
Total paid
$42K
nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted
Claims paid
67%
4 received a payment
Average payout
$10K
per paid claim
Last 10 years
6
claims 2011 – 2020
Most recent loss
2020-11-12
data as of 2026-09-08

Look up your ZIP code

Pick your ZIP code to see how many insured buildings there filed flood claims, in which years, and how much was paid — and which named floods those claims came from, which a county-wide list cannot tell you. Narrow by year or flood zone too. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you pick is sent anywhere. Have a street address? Run the printable flood check for it →

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Flood claims by year

Peak: 2 claims in 2012

Claims by year of loss, 2012–2020. Spikes line up with named storms and major rain events; quiet years still see claims from local flash flooding.

Biggest flood events in Alexander County

Flood event (FEMA name)ClaimsPaidAvg / claimYear
Hurricane Eta1$17K$17K2020

17% of claims here fall under these 1 entries. “FEMA general label” groups many separate floods under one name; the rest of the claims have no event name.

Claims by flood zone

Not sure what the zone letters mean? Flood zones explained →

High-risk A zones: 3 (50%)Coastal high-risk V zones: 0 (0%)Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X): 3 (50%)Zone not recorded: 0 (0%)
Flood zone at ratingClaimsPaidAvg / claim
High-risk A zones (A, AE, AH, AO, A1–A30, AR)3$5K$2K
Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X)3$37K$12K

What caused the flooding

Cause of damage (as coded by FEMA)ClaimsShare
Stream, river or lake overflow350%
Not recorded233%
Accumulation of rainfall or snowmelt117%

Flood claims by ZIP code in Alexander County

2 ZIP codes in Alexander County have at least one NFIP claim. ZIP codes can cross county lines; this table counts only claims FEMA assigned to Alexander County.

286815$38K83%42020
286011$4K17%12013

Click a column to sort. Click a ZIP to load it in the lookup above.

When does Alexander County flood?

May accounts for the most flood losses (4 claims, 67%). Claims by month of loss:

MonthClaimsShare
January00%
February00%
March00%
April00%
May467%
June117%
July00%
August00%
September00%
October00%
November117%
December00%

Year-by-year detail

Year of lossClaimsPaid
20201$17K
20191$20K
20132$4K
20122$1K

Neighboring counties

Alexander County borders 4 areas we cover. Flood risk does not stop at a county line, so it is worth comparing.

NeighborClaimsPaidOutside high-risk
Alexander County (this page)6$42K50%
Catawba County210$4.9M46%
Caldwell County85$1.5M29%
Iredell County60$1.1M40%
Wilkes County34$1.4M39%

All 100 North Carolina counties → · County and ZIP rankings →

Common questions about flooding in Alexander County

Has Alexander County flooded recently?
Yes — the most recent flood loss with an insurance claim on file was on 2020-11-12, and claims were filed in 4 of the last 10 years (6 claims from 2011 to 2020). FEMA’s data runs to 2026-09-08, so the newest events may not appear yet.
Do I need flood insurance in a low-risk zone here?
Lenders generally require it only in high-risk A and V zones. But 50% of Alexander County’s claims came from moderate- and low-risk zones. Whether to buy coverage is your call — see flood zones explained and check your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
Can I see whether a specific house has flooded?
Not here. FEMA removes addresses before publishing, so these figures describe areas, never a property. Our guide how to check if a house has flooded lists the questions and records that can tell you about a specific home.
Why might the real number of floods be higher?
Only buildings with National Flood Insurance can file these claims, and most homes are not insured for flood. More on what the counts mean in understanding NFIP claims data.

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About these numbers

Figures are aggregated from FEMA’s OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims dataset (county FIPS 37003, data as of 2026-09-08). They cover only properties that carried National Flood Insurance — most homes do not, and private flood policies are not included — so real flood damage is larger than these counts show. Dollar amounts are as paid, in nominal dollars. Flood zone is the zone used to rate the policy at the time, which may differ from today’s map. FEMA states this dataset is not an official federal report. Use it for background, not for a purchase, insurance or legal decision; for a specific property ask the seller for its flood disclosure or the owner’s NFIP loss history.

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