Alaska floods

Every recorded flood since 1996 · 28 counties with a record

NOAA's Storm Events Database records 648 floods and flash floods in Alaska from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 23 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the August 18, 2015 flash flood: 3 deaths and $2.1 million in damage in 2025 dollars. Alaska ranks 48th of 52 states and territories by count and 51st of 51 per square mile.

Floods in Alaska, 1996 to 2026

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

recorded, no damage figure
under $1 million
$1 million or more
$10 million or more
$100 million or more, or 10 deaths
$1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
a year with a death

Records: 6481996 to June 30, 2026
A year since 2000: 23average
Deaths: 121 injuries
Damage, 2025 dollars: $429Mas filed
Busiest year: 200946 records

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

Are floods and flash floods common in Alaska?

Alaska averages about 23 floods and flash floods a year since 2000, 48th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2009 (46). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Alaska records 11 floods and flash floods since 1996, 51st of 51 states and territories by that measure.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in Alaska have the most floods and flash floods?

Per square mile, Sitka City and Borough leads Alaska: 16 days with a flood since 1996, 5.6 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area has the most flood records (56 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is flood season in Alaska?

Alaska's floods and flash floods by month. The busiest month is May (163 records).

The values, month by month

Jan 21 · Feb 8 · Mar 2 · Apr 18 · May 163 · Jun 48 · Jul 70 · Aug 114 · Sep 74 · Oct 67 · Nov 39 · Dec 24 (records).

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

What were the deadliest floods and flash floods in Alaska?

Alaska: the storms with the most deaths since 1996
Date	Record	Killed	Injured	Damage
2015-08-18	Flash FloodSitka A strong cold front with sub-tropical moisture moved into the eastern gulf and moved over the coastal areas of Southeast Alaska. As the front approached the coastal area of Sitka very high rain rates were being reported across the area in the early morning hours which lasted less than 6 hours. In three hours the Sitka ...	3	0	$2.1M
2002-05-07	Flash FloodSouthwest Portion A breaking ice jam on the Stony River, and the inflow to the Kuskokwim River contributed to significant river rises at Sleetmute and Red Devil by the 7th of May. This resulted in execution of an evacuation plan at Red Devil. By the 11th of May, Sleetmute was experiencing the highest breakup rise in recent memory. All ...	3	0	$1.6M
2008-08-01	Coastal FloodNorth Slope Borough · forecast zone Eastern Beaufort Sea Coast Event continued from July. A 980 mb low pressure center moved counter-clockwise across the southern Beaufort Sea during 29th through Aug 1st, bringing several periods of west winds 30 to 50 mph across the Arctic Coast of Alaska. This caused a combination of high surf and elevated ocean water levels which destroyed the ...	2	0	–
2025-10-12	Typhoon Halong · Coastal FloodBethel Census Area · forecast zone Kuskokwim Delta Coast And Nunivak Island One named storm filed by several offices: 8 records in 3 episodes; the totals are the storm's. The remnants of Typhoon Halong in the northern Pacific Ocean began approaching the Bering Sea on Saturday, October 11, 2025, as they merged with a deep upper-level low east of Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. As the systems merged and underwent extratropical transition, the resulting storm was forced northward by a ...	1	1	$14M
2012-09-19	FloodNancy Lake One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. A series of strong, wet storm systems hit Southcentral Alaska in mid-September. Each storm followed nearly the same track along the Alaska Peninsula then along the Bering Sea coast, setting up a strong moist fetch into the Southcentral Alaska. This resulted in widespread flood damage over a large area. Storm total ...	1	0	$24M
2011-11-08	Coastal FloodNome Census Area · forecast zone St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait One storm episode: 2 records; the totals are the episode's. A 960 mb low over the southern Aleutians at 0300AKST on the 8th intensified to 945 mb near the Gulf of Anadyr by 2100AKST on the 8th. The low crossed the Chukotsk Peninsula as a 956 mb low at 0900AKST on the 9th, and moved into the southern Chukchi Sea as a 958 mb low by 2100AKST on the 9th. The low then tracked to ...	1	0	$31M
2010-07-10	FloodChicken An area of low pressure moved out of the Gulf of Alaska and to the Alaska-Yukon border on the 11th. As the low moved southeast and into the southern Yukon moisture wrapped around the low and produced heavy rainfall across the Fortymile County. Rainfall amounts of 3.2 inches were observed at Chicken and O'Brien Creek, ...	1	0	–

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.

The costliest floods and flash floods in Alaska

Alaska: the most damaging storms since 1993, 2025 dollars
Date	Record	Killed	Damage
2006-10-09	FloodValdez One storm episode: 4 records in 4 places, 2006-10-09 to 2006-10-10; the totals are the episode's.	0	$58M
2011-11-08	Coastal FloodNome Census Area · forecast zone St Lawrence Is. Bering Strait One storm episode: 2 records; the totals are the episode's.	1	$31M
2006-08-18	FloodCountywide	0	$29M
2012-09-19	FloodNancy Lake One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's.	1	$24M
2015-05-20	FloodDeadhorse	0	$19M
2013-05-27	FloodGalena	0	$19M
2002-10-23	FloodKenai Peninsula Borough · forecast zone Kenai Peninsula One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's.	0	$16M
2022-07-10	Flash FloodMentasta Lake	0	$14M

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

Are floods and flash floods becoming more frequent in Alaska?

Alaska's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Floods: Alaska and the United States by decade (2020s to June 30, 2026)
Decade	Alaska	United States	Alaska's share
1996-99	39	20,986	0.19%
2000s	223	54,913	0.41%
2010s	188	68,322	0.28%
2020-26	198	43,563	0.45%

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent floods and flash floods in Alaska

The 12 most recent records, to June 30, 2026
Date	Record	Damage
2026-06-15	FloodColdfoot	$10K
2026-05-25	FloodAlakanuk	$10K
2026-05-24	FloodEmmonak	$125K
2026-05-22	FloodMountain Village	$5K
2026-05-22	FloodPitkas Point	$100K
2026-05-22	FloodPilot Station	$200K
2026-05-22	FloodPilot Station	$125K
2026-05-18	FloodHoly Cross	$75K
2026-05-18	FloodRussian Mission	–
2026-05-18	FloodGrayling	$10K
2026-05-14	FloodKoyukuk	$30K
2026-05-13	FloodStevens Village	$5K

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for floods and flash floods in Alaska

FEMA has declared 38 disasters in Alaska for floods and flash floods, counting its incident type and declarations that name flood in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 38 were major disasters, the latest on May 29, 2026.

The 12 most recent
Declared	Number	Title	Areas named
2026-05-29	DR-4912	Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong	1
2025-10-22	DR-4893	Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong	10
2025-01-15	DR-4859	Severe Storm and Flooding	2
2025-01-10	DR-4857	Severe Storm and Flooding	1
2025-01-01	DR-4853	Severe Storm and Flooding	1
2024-10-16	DR-4836	Flooding	1
2024-04-06	DR-4767	Severe Storm, Flooding, and Landslides	3
2023-08-23	DR-4730	Flooding	10
2022-09-23	DR-4672	Severe Storm, Flooding, and Landslides	5
2022-08-26	DR-4667	Flooding	3
2022-01-15	DR-4638	Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides	1
2021-02-17	DR-4585	Severe Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides	5

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.