Minnesota floods
Every recorded flood since 1996 · 87 counties with a record
NOAA's Storm Events Database records 2,680 floods and flash floods in Minnesota from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 92 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the August 18, 2007 flash flood: 7 deaths, 32 injuries and $258 million in damage in 2025 dollars across 19 records. Minnesota ranks 28th of 52 states and territories by count and 38th of 51 per square mile.
Floods in Minnesota, 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
- 2,6801996 to June 30, 2026
- A year since 2000
- 92average
- Deaths
- 2340 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $3.2Bas filed
- Busiest year
- 2010232 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 Minnesota?
Minnesota averages about 92 floods and flash floods a year since 2000, 28th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2010 (232). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Minnesota records 337 floods and flash floods since 1996, 38th 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 Minnesota have the most floods and flash floods?
Per square mile, Ramsey County leads Minnesota: 22 days with a flood since 1996, 144.5 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, St. Louis County has the most flood records (113 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 Minnesota?
46% of its floods and flash floods since 1996 fell in June and July. The busiest month is June (780 records).
The values, month by month
Jan 0 · Feb 1 · Mar 287 · Apr 394 · May 214 · Jun 780 · Jul 441 · Aug 257 · Sep 243 · Oct 58 · Nov 2 · Dec 3 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.
What were the deadliest floods and flash floods in Minnesota?
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-08-18 | Flash FloodLewiston, Winona County One storm episode: 19 records in 6 places, 2007-08-18 to 2007-08-19; the totals are the episode's. A warm front lifting northward into Iowa triggered round after round of thunderstorms with excessive rainfall across southeast Minnesota during the evening and overnight hours of August 18-19. This was after rain had fallen earlier in the day. Total rainfall amounts of 10 to 15 inches were common, which produced ... | 7 | 32 | $258M | |
| 2008-06-11 | Flash FloodAlbert Lea, Freeborn County Approximately three to five inches of heavy rain in three hours resulted in flash flooding. Water was reported over Highway 65 three miles southeast of Albert Lea, and over Interstate 90 five miles east and one mile north of Hayward. Heavy rain washed out a section of County Road 34 between County Roads 19 and 21, or ... | 3 | 2 | $685K | |
| 2001-04-01 | FloodAnoka County · forecast zone Anoka Heavy snowfall during winter remained on the ground through the end of March and then rapidly melted, resulting in river stages close to record levels. Water began to gush through drainage ditches, streams and into the mainstem rivers during midday April 1. Heavy rain April 7-8 over much of central Minnesota (see ... | 3 | 1 | $333M | |
| 1998-06-26 | Flash FloodCannon Falls, Goodhue County Slow moving thunderstorms dumped 4 to 6 inches of rain in threes hours over portions of Goodhue county. Zumbrota received 6.46", Sogn 4.38", Wanamingo 5.49". Flash flooding resulted in many road closures. The Shades of Sherwood Campground was evacuated where some campers were washed into the Zumbro River. Several ... | 2 | 0 | $2.7M | |
| 2005-06-07 | Flash FloodCountywide, Goodhue County One storm episode: 2 records; the totals are the episode's. Significant flooding was reported in the North Fork Zumbro River watershed during the evening of the 7th after 3 to 6 inches of rain fell. A total of 5.47 inches of rain was recorded in Wanamingo in 24 hours, 2.8 inches of which fell between 9:30 and 10:30 PM. An unnamed creek which flows into the North Fork Zumbro ... | 1 | 1 | $975K | |
| 2011-04-03 | FloodGeorgetown, Clay County A 73 year old resident of Oakport Township suffered a heart attack and died while he and his family were filling and placing sandbags to protect their home, located north of Moorhead. | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 2011-03-21 | FloodNorth Star, Nicollet County Several highways and county roads from North Mankato, northward along the Minnesota River to Le Sueur, Minnesota were impassable due to Spring flooding. Some of the major routes included 169, 22, and 93 and 99. There was one fatality on March 22 when a MNDOT worker tried to clear an ice jam and his Backhoe tipped over ... | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 2019-09-15 | FloodRedwood Falls, Redwood County The local police department reported that an individual had disappeared in the Redwood River near the 100 block of West Bridge Street and was presumed dead from drowning. | 1 | 0 | – | |
| 2018-07-03 | FloodFranklin, Renville County One storm episode: 4 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. During the overnight hours of Tuesday, July 3rd, a persistent line of storms, with rainfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour, moved very little from Marshall to Redwood Falls, Olivia, then southward to Tracy, Lamberton, and Springfield, Minnesota. The heaviest rainfall held over the Redwood, and Cottonwood river basin ... | 1 | 0 | $1.8M | |
| 2004-09-15 | FloodMower County · forecast zone Mower One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. After a relatively dry start to the month, a potent late summer storm system brought very heavy rain to parts of southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa on September14 and September15. Rain was most intense from near Mason City, Iowa through the Austin area (Mower County) to near Rochester (Olmsted County). There were ... | 1 | 0 | $1.8M |
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 Minnesota
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997-04-17 | FloodPolk County · forecast zone West Polk | 0 | 0 | $1.1B | |
| 2001-04-01 | FloodAnoka County · forecast zone Anoka | 3 | 1 | $333M | |
| 2002-06-10 | FloodRoseau County · forecast zone Roseau | 0 | 0 | $328M | |
| 2007-08-18 | Flash FloodLewiston, Winona County One storm episode: 19 records in 6 places, 2007-08-18 to 2007-08-19; the totals are the episode's. | 7 | 32 | $258M | |
| 2019-06-01 | FloodFlorence, Lyon County One storm episode: 8 records in 8 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $152M | |
| 2002-06-09 | FloodNorman County · forecast zone Norman | 0 | 0 | $64M | |
| 2012-06-20 | Flash FloodEsko, Carlton County One storm episode: 7 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $56M | |
| 2010-09-23 | FloodEllendale, Steele County One storm episode: 9 records in 9 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $53M |
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 Minnesota?
Minnesota'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.
| Decade | Minnesota | United States | Minnesota's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-99 | 278 | 20,986 | 1.3% |
| 2000s | 840 | 54,913 | 1.5% |
| 2010s | 1,199 | 68,322 | 1.8% |
| 2020-26 | 363 | 43,563 | 0.8% |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
The most recent floods and flash floods in Minnesota
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-07 | Flash FloodSteele Center, Steele County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-07 | Flash FloodBlooming Prairie, Steele County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-18 | FloodAustin, Mower County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-18 | FloodMapleview, Mower County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodWalnut Grove, Redwood County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodSherburn, Martin County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodOwatonna, Steele County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodEllendale, Steele County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodWaseca County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | FloodMarshall, Lyon County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodMarshall, Lyon County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-08-17 | Flash FloodBalaton, Lyon County | 0 | 0 | – |
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 Minnesota
FEMA has declared 54 disasters in Minnesota 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); 52 were major disasters, the latest on June 28, 2024.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-06-28 | DR-4797 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 32 |
| 2023-07-19 | DR-4722 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 26 |
| 2022-08-09 | DR-4666 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 23 |
| 2022-07-13 | DR-4659 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 19 |
| 2022-07-08 | DR-4658 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 23 |
| 2019-06-12 | DR-4442 | Severe Winter Storm, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 55 |
| 2019-02-01 | DR-4414 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 1 |
| 2018-09-05 | DR-4390 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 31 |
| 2016-11-02 | DR-4290 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 10 |
| 2014-07-21 | DR-4182 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides | 40 |
| 2013-07-25 | DR-4131 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 18 |
| 2012-07-06 | DR-4069 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 18 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Ramsey County: the county's whole recordThe Minnesota county with the most floods and flash floods per square mile
- Floods across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
- Every natural hazard in MinnesotaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
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