Mississippi floods
Every recorded flood since 1996 · 82 counties with a record
NOAA's Storm Events Database records 3,812 floods and flash floods in Mississippi from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 135 a year since 2000. The deadliest was Hurricane Ida (August 30, 2021): 3 deaths, 7 injuries and $2.4 million in damage in 2025 dollars across 2 records. Mississippi ranks 19th of 52 states and territories by count and 25th of 51 per square mile.
Floods in Mississippi, 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
- 3,8121996 to June 30, 2026
- A year since 2000
- 135average
- Deaths
- 2622 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $2.3Bas filed
- Busiest year
- 2019233 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 Mississippi?
Mississippi averages about 135 floods and flash floods a year since 2000, 19th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2019 (233). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Mississippi records 812 floods and flash floods since 1996, 25th 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 Mississippi have the most floods and flash floods?
Per square mile, Forrest County leads Mississippi: 105 days with a flood since 1996, 225.3 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Rankin County has the most flood records (242 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 Mississippi?
Mississippi's floods and flash floods by month. The busiest month is April (565 records).
The values, month by month
Jan 293 · Feb 337 · Mar 500 · Apr 565 · May 321 · Jun 420 · Jul 343 · Aug 392 · Sep 304 · Oct 120 · Nov 55 · Dec 162 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.
What were the deadliest floods and flash floods in Mississippi?
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-08-30 | Hurricane Ida · Flash FloodBenndale, George County One named storm filed by several offices: 2 records in 2 episodes; the totals are the storm's. Hurricane Ida rapidly intensified overnight on August 28th into the morning of August 29th into strong category 4 Hurricane as it approached the northern Gulf coast. Ida made landfall across southeast Louisiana during the late morning on August 29th. Ida turned north and northeast across central Mississippi during ... | 3 | 7 | $2.4M | |
| 2002-10-10 | Flash FloodSenatobia, Tate County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. Two high school students were killed when they tried to drive their vehicle across a flooded road. A few roads in the area were flooded. | 3 | 0 | $10K | |
| 2010-05-02 | Flash FloodLone Pine, Alcorn County One storm episode: 9 records in 8 places; the totals are the episode's. An upper level disturbance slowly approached the Mid-South during the evening of April 30th, 2010 as a cold front became stationary to the west. This pattern remained in place through the evening hours of May 2nd, 2010. South to southwest winds pumped warm moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and created a very unstable ... | 2 | 0 | $13M | |
| 2008-04-01 | FloodFox Is, Tunica County The Mississippi River rose to 10 year historical levels in Tunica County. The high levels brought flood water into a few homes in the Tunica Cut-Off Lake area. Voluntary evacuations orders were posted for the area. Two deaths occurred from the flooding. A 23 year old drowned when he fell into the flood water when ... | 2 | 0 | $274K | |
| 2019-06-14 | FloodCampbellsville, Yazoo County Ongoing flooding occurred due to flooding along both the Yazoo and Mississippi rivers. This created prolonged flooding in the Yazoo backwater region. Two fatalities occurred when a car skidded off the roadway near Satartia Road and Holly Bluff Road East. | 2 | 0 | – | |
| 2011-04-27 | Flash FloodByhalia, Marshall County One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. A stationary front remained draped across Southern Missouri into Western Kentucky from April 24th, 2011 into April 25th, 2011. A very warm and unstable atmosphere was in place across the Mid-South ahead of the front. A low pressure system developed along the front and interacted with the unstable environment which ... | 1 | 7 | $984K | |
| 2015-04-25 | Flash FloodBatesville, Panola County Heavy rain fell near Batesville which produced 1.5 inches in one hour and a total of 3.50 inches over an 8 hour span. This caused a creek to rise out of its banks and flood eight businesses and two homes in the southern part of town. In addition, a possibly impaired driver drove into flood waters on a road that was ... | 1 | 1 | $62K | |
| 2025-10-26 | Flash FloodNatchez, Adams County One storm episode: 4 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. A line of thunderstorms formed west of the area and moved across Mississippi early in the morning. Some of these thunderstorms produced damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall. | 1 | 1 | $102K | |
| 2014-04-06 | Flash FloodYazoo City Barrier A, Yazoo County A 9 year old girl was swept away by flood waters in the vicinity of 7th Street. Several roads were flooded in town. | 1 | 0 | $62K | |
| 2011-09-04 | Flash FloodCross Roads, Tishomingo County A man tried enter J.P. Coleman State Park by driving his vehicle through a flooded low water crossing. The vehicle was washed off the road. Two passengers swam to safety but the driver drowned because he could not swim after having a recent operation. | 1 | 0 | $26K |
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 Mississippi
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-05-01 | FloodJeffries, Tunica County One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $1.3B | |
| 2003-04-06 | Flash FloodCountywide, Scott County One storm episode: 15 records in 12 places, 2003-04-06 to 2003-04-07; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 0 | $423M | |
| 2008-09-03 | Hurricane Gustav · Flash FloodGreenville, Washington County One storm episode: 14 records in 13 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $85M | |
| 1997-06-18 | Flash FloodColumbia, Marion County | 0 | 0 | $28M | |
| 2005-09-25 | Hurricane Katrina · Flash FloodCountywide, Yazoo County One named storm filed by several offices: 18 records in 2 episodes; the totals are the storm's. | 0 | 0 | $24M | |
| 1997-06-10 | Flash FloodLexington, Holmes County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $19M | |
| 2004-02-05 | Flash FloodCountywide, Rankin County One storm episode: 10 records in 10 places, 2004-02-05 to 2004-02-06; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $19M | |
| 2011-05-07 | FloodBrunswick, Warren County One storm episode: 8 records in 8 places, 2011-05-07 to 2011-05-09; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 0 | $15M |
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 Mississippi?
Mississippi'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 | Mississippi | United States | Mississippi's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-99 | 185 | 20,986 | 0.9% |
| 2000s | 1,121 | 54,913 | 2.0% |
| 2010s | 1,565 | 68,322 | 2.3% |
| 2020-26 | 941 | 43,563 | 2.2% |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
The most recent floods and flash floods in Mississippi
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-20 | Flash FloodWool Market, Harrison County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodTalowah, Lamar County | 0 | 0 | $1K | |
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodGandsi, Covington County | 0 | 0 | $250K | |
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodOak Bowery, Jones County | 0 | 0 | $15K | |
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodSeminary, Covington County | 0 | 0 | $100K | |
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodHandsboro, Harrison County | 0 | 0 | $30K | |
| 2026-06-19 | Flash FloodBiloxi, Harrison County | 0 | 0 | $50K | |
| 2026-06-18 | Flash FloodLake, Scott County | 0 | 0 | $10K | |
| 2026-06-18 | Flash FloodMendenhall, Simpson County | 0 | 0 | $50K | |
| 2026-06-18 | Flash FloodForest, Scott County | 0 | 0 | $65K | |
| 2026-06-18 | Flash FloodGunn, Smith County | 0 | 0 | $2K | |
| 2026-06-18 | Flash FloodPuckett, Rankin County | 0 | 0 | $2K |
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 Mississippi
FEMA has declared 46 disasters in Mississippi 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); 42 were major disasters, the latest on June 30, 2026.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | DR-4922 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 5 |
| 2025-05-21 | DR-4874 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 18 |
| 2024-06-10 | DR-4790 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 6 |
| 2020-07-09 | DR-4551 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 11 |
| 2020-04-23 | DR-4538 | Severe Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides | 15 |
| 2020-04-16 | DR-4536 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 29 |
| 2020-03-12 | DR-4478 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 13 |
| 2019-12-06 | DR-4470 | Severe Storm, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 19 |
| 2019-06-20 | DR-4450 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 9 |
| 2019-04-23 | DR-4429 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 30 |
| 2019-02-14 | DR-4415 | Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornado | 11 |
| 2017-05-22 | DR-4314 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 9 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Forrest County: the county's whole recordThe Mississippi 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 MississippiTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
- Severe thunderstorm wind in Mississippi18,161 records
- Hail in Mississippi8,457 records
- Tornadoes in Mississippi3,532 records