PlainHazard

Floods in the United States, by state

The national record since 1996 · Flash Flood, Flood, Coastal Flood, Lakeshore Flood

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 187,784 floods and flash floods in the United States from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 6,319 a year since 2000. Texas records the most (15,832), Puerto Rico the most per square mile. The deadliest storm in NOAA's record since 1996 is the July 4, 2025 flash flood in Texas: 117 deaths and $205 million in damage in 2025 dollars.

Floods, 1996 to 2026

Records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.

  • recorded, no damage figure
  • under $10 million
  • $10 million or more
  • $100 million or more
  • $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
  • $10 billion or more, or 1,000 deaths
  • a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
  • a year with a death
Records
187,7841996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000
6,319average
Deaths
3,050recorded
Damage, 2025 dollars
$221.2BStorm Events, as filed

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.

Which states have the most floods and flash floods?

By count Texas (15,832), Missouri (10,821), Kentucky (8,294) lead. Per 10,000 square miles Puerto Rico (11126), New Jersey (5149), Maryland (3651) lead; large states collect more records by covering more ground.

By count since 1996

  1. Texas 15,832
  2. Missouri 10,821
  3. Kentucky 8,294
  4. Virginia 8,165
  5. Iowa 7,383
  6. California 7,136
  7. Pennsylvania 7,057
  8. New York 6,836
  9. Ohio 6,794
  10. Illinois 6,507
  11. Indiana 6,083
  12. Arkansas 5,685
  13. North Carolina 5,375
  14. Kansas 4,604
  15. Tennessee 4,414

Per 10,000 square miles

  1. Puerto Rico 11126
  2. New Jersey 5149
  3. Maryland 3651
  4. Rhode Island 3289
  5. Delaware 3156
  6. Massachusetts 2423
  7. Connecticut 2133
  8. Kentucky 2101
  9. Virginia 2068
  10. West Virginia 1733
  11. Indiana 1698
  12. Ohio 1663
  13. Pennsylvania 1577
  14. Missouri 1574
  15. New York 1451

Source: Land area: Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles are not ranked per square mile.

Alabama: 667 per 10,000 sq miAlaska: 11 per 10,000 sq miArizona: 343 per 10,000 sq miArkansas: 1,093 per 10,000 sq miCalifornia: 458 per 10,000 sq miColorado: 189 per 10,000 sq miConnecticut: 2,133 per 10,000 sq miDelaware: 3,156 per 10,000 sq miFlorida: 629 per 10,000 sq miGeorgia: 563 per 10,000 sq miHawaii: 1,347 per 10,000 sq miIdaho: 96 per 10,000 sq miIllinois: 1,172 per 10,000 sq miIndiana: 1,698 per 10,000 sq miIowa: 1,322 per 10,000 sq miKansas: 563 per 10,000 sq miKentucky: 2,101 per 10,000 sq miLouisiana: 771 per 10,000 sq miMaine: 522 per 10,000 sq miMaryland: 3,651 per 10,000 sq miMassachusetts: 2,423 per 10,000 sq miMichigan: 231 per 10,000 sq miMinnesota: 337 per 10,000 sq miMississippi: 812 per 10,000 sq miMissouri: 1,574 per 10,000 sq miMontana: 81 per 10,000 sq miNebraska: 308 per 10,000 sq miNevada: 84 per 10,000 sq miNew Hampshire: 1,170 per 10,000 sq miNew Jersey: 5,149 per 10,000 sq miNew Mexico: 155 per 10,000 sq miNew York: 1,451 per 10,000 sq miNorth Carolina: 1,105 per 10,000 sq miNorth Dakota: 177 per 10,000 sq miOhio: 1,663 per 10,000 sq miOklahoma: 634 per 10,000 sq miOregon: 88 per 10,000 sq miPennsylvania: 1,577 per 10,000 sq miRhode Island: 3,289 per 10,000 sq miSouth Carolina: 851 per 10,000 sq miSouth Dakota: 447 per 10,000 sq miTennessee: 1,071 per 10,000 sq miTexas: 606 per 10,000 sq miUtah: 169 per 10,000 sq miVermont: 988 per 10,000 sq miVirginia: 2,068 per 10,000 sq miWashington: 125 per 10,000 sq miWest Virginia: 1,733 per 10,000 sq miWisconsin: 476 per 10,000 sq miWyoming: 59 per 10,000 sq mi
  • 11-189
  • 189-563
  • 563-1,093
  • 1,093-1,698
  • 1,698+
Floods per 10,000 square miles by state since 1996. Each class holds about a fifth of the states; Alaska and Hawaii are drawn as insets, not to scale.

Every state

Flood risk by state: FEMA's model

The record above counts what happened. FEMA's National Risk Index estimates what each state can expect to lose to floods in an average year, from history, exposure and vulnerability: California carries the largest expected annual loss ($11.7B), then Texas and Florida.

  1. California $11.7B
  2. Texas $5.0B
  3. Florida $3.0B
  4. Illinois $2.9B
  5. New York $2.9B
  6. Pennsylvania $2.7B
  7. New Jersey $2.1B
  8. North Carolina $2.1B
  9. Arizona $2.0B
  10. Ohio $1.9B
  11. Georgia $1.6B
  12. Missouri $1.6B
  13. Michigan $1.5B
  14. Washington $1.4B
  15. Minnesota $1.3B

Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025), county expected annual loss summed by state; a model, not a count. FEMA's National Risk Index map.

When is flood season?

Floods by month, nationally. The busiest month is June.

The values, month by month

Jan 9,944 · Feb 9,945 · Mar 13,569 · Apr 15,979 · May 24,193 · Jun 27,878 · Jul 25,578 · Aug 21,218 · Sep 16,986 · Oct 9,607 · Nov 5,555 · Dec 7,332 (records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The deadliest floods and flash floods on record

The 10 storms with the most deaths since 1996, by state
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2025-07-04 Flash FloodHunt, Kerr County, TX One storm episode: 23 records in 5 places; the totals are the episode's. Tropical Storm Barry moved into and dissipated over eastern Mexico. Moist air from the remnants of Barry moved northward into Texas. Precipitable water values over South-Central Texas increased to near record levels. A mid-level anticyclonic circulation developed and moved over Central Texas providing lift to generate ... 117 0 $205M
2017-08-26 Hurricane Harvey · Flash FloodJoyce, Harris County, TX One named storm filed by several offices: 21 records in 5 episodes, 2017-08-26 to 2017-08-30; the totals are the storm's. Harvey made landfall as a category 4 hurricane near Rockport, Texas during the evening of August 25th. The storm then weakened to a tropical storm and slowed, looping back and tracking over SE Texas then back over the Gulf of Mexico making a second landfall along the Louisiana coast during the early morning hours of ... 73 1 $52.5B
2024-09-27 Hurricane Helene · Flash FloodRidgecrest, Buncombe County, NC One named storm filed by several offices: 30 records in 2 episodes; the totals are the storm's. Tropical Cyclone Helene began organizing over the western Caribbean on the 23rd and 24th of September before rapidly intensifying as it moved north through the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 25th and 26th. A plume of moisture extending from the intensifying storm interacted with a slow-moving cold front to produce a ... 67 4 $1.8B
2022-07-27 Flash FloodFisty, Knott County, KY One storm episode: 6 records in 5 places, 2022-07-27 to 2022-07-28; the totals are the episode's. Between July 25th and July 30th, 2022, several complexes of training thunderstorms developed south of I-64 and brought heavy rain, deadly flash flooding, and devastating river flooding to eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. These thunderstorms, at times, caused rainfall rates in excess of 4/hr across complex ... 40 0 –
2012-10-29 Hurricane Sandy · Coastal FloodRichmond County, NY · forecast zone Richmond (Staten Is.) One storm episode: 6 records in 5 places; the totals are the episode's. Post Tropical Storm Sandy was the costliest natural disaster in Southeast New York. Tropical Storm Sandy formed in the Caribbean Sea on October 22. After drifting slowly southwest on October 23, Sandy turned to the north and intensified to a hurricane on October 24, just before making landfall in Jamaica. Hurricane ... 39 0 –
2021-09-01 Hurricane Ida · Flash FloodRiegel Ridge, Hunterdon County, NJ One named storm filed by several offices: 17 records in 2 episodes; the totals are the storm's. Post Tropical Cyclone Ida brought heavy rain to New Jersey on September 1. Rainfall totals were as high as 5 to 10 inches. The heavy rain caused significant flash flooding, mainly in the northern half of the state. It resulted in widespread property damage. There were several fatalities. 29 7 $254M
1998-10-17 Flash FloodCountywide, Bexar County, TX One storm episode: 20 records in 16 places, 1998-10-17 to 1998-10-18; the totals are the episode's. The Great October FloodIn advance of a very slow-moving upper level trough of low pressure over West Texas, a cold front drifted slowly southeastward into West Central Texas during the evening of Friday, October 16th. Deep moisture was in place across South Central Texas as the two systems approached, being fed at the ... 25 4,320 $252M
2016-10-09 Hurricane Matthew · FloodFt Bragg, Cumberland County, NC One named storm filed by several offices: 58 records in 6 episodes, 2016-10-09 to 2016-10-13; the totals are the storm's. Hurricane Matthew skirted by the North Carolina coast on October 8, 2016, dropping torrential rainfall of 8 to 15 inches and producing wind gusts of 50 to 70 mph across Central and Eastern North Carolina. The large swath of 8 to 15 inches of rain across Eastern and Central North Carolina, caused devastating and life ... 24 0 $1.1B
1999-09-15 Hurricane Floyd · Flash FloodCountywide, Edgecombe County, NC One named storm filed by several offices: 12 records in 4 episodes, 1999-09-15 to 1999-09-16; the totals are the storm's. Rainfall associated with Hurricane Floyd produced unprecedented flash flooding across the eastern half of the state. Every river and stream flooded nearby roads and communities. Several lives were lost due to people driving into flooded roadways or directly into streams where roads and bridges were washed out. Several ... 23 1 $172M
2010-06-11 Flash FloodSlatington, Montgomery County, AR Heavy rain fell on saturated ground during the wee hours of June 11th in an area characterized by steep terrain, limited access, and poor communications. Along the Little Missouri River, flash flooding developed rapidly at the Albert Pike Recreation Area in the Ouachita National Forest. The flood took 20 lives, ... 20 24 $12M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed, summed over each storm in each state (one episode, or a named storm filed by several offices); names from FEMA declaration titles.

The costliest floods and flash floods since 1993

The 8 most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
DateRecordCharacterKilledInjuredDamage
2017-08-26 Hurricane Harvey · Flash FloodJoyce, Harris County, TX One named storm filed by several offices: 21 records in 5 episodes, 2017-08-26 to 2017-08-30; the totals are the storm's. 73 1 $52.5B
2017-09-20 Hurricane Maria · Flash FloodToa Baja Municipio, PR One storm episode: 40 records in 40 places; the totals are the episode's. 20 0 $22.0B
2012-10-29 Hurricane Sandy · Coastal FloodOcean County, NJ · forecast zone Western Ocean One named storm filed by several offices: 18 records in 2 episodes, 2012-10-29 to 2012-10-30; the totals are the storm's. 7 0 $20.5B
2016-08-13 FloodPlains, East Baton Rouge Parish, LA One storm episode: 21 records in 14 places, 2016-08-13 to 2016-08-15; the totals are the episode's. 12 0 $8.6B
1997-04-18 FloodGrand Forks County, ND · forecast zone Grand Forks 0 0 $5.5B
2011-05-01 FloodDarwin, Shelby County, TN One storm episode: 5 records in 5 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $2.6B
2014-08-11 Flash FloodEast Rockwood, Wayne County, MI One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. 0 0 $2.2B
2010-05-01 FloodRural Hill, Davidson County, TN One storm episode: 20 records in 18 places, 2010-05-01 to 2010-05-02; the totals are the episode's. 18 0 $2.1B

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

What the record files under floods

NOAA event types in this group
Event typeRecordsYearsKilledDamage
Flash Flood111,9741996-20262,206$131.4B
Flood70,8051996-2026782$67.9B
Coastal Flood4,6471996-202660$21.8B
Lakeshore Flood3592006-20252$156M

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, event types as defined in NWS Instruction 10-1605.

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