Flash Floods and Flooding by ZIP Code

Data current as of December 2024 — recomputed by ZipCheckup from federal data each build.

Over the decade from 2015 through 2024, NOAA's Storm Events database logged 40,522 flash-flood events and 28,549 riverine or areal flood events across 3,133 U.S. counties in 51 states, with 1,133 direct deaths and 312 direct injuries, as of December 2024. A flood spanning more than one county is counted once per county, so these are county-level events, not unique floods.

From 2015 through 2024, the U.S. logged 40,522 flash-flood events and 28,549 other flood events across 3,133 counties, with 1,133 direct deaths and 312 direct injuries, as of December 2024.

By state

We report two independent facts side by side and do not rank states. A larger count reflects the size of a state's inventory and its reporting activity, not a judgment about water safety.

state	flash flood events	flood events
AK	3	165
AL	949	255
AR	1,373	1,038
AZ	1,834	158
CA	1,213	2,746
CO	536	157
CT	324	76
DC	46	60
DE	86	59
FL	719	779
GA	1,103	222
HI	221	30
IA	677	1,439
ID	78	211
IL	1,024	1,152
IN	565	783
KS	981	575
KY	1,550	1,486
LA	1,293	111
MA	268	563
MD	678	1,068
ME	180	249
MI	101	179
MN	377	461
MO	2,154	1,691
MS	1,465	131
MT	108	216
NC	1,665	535
ND	71	71
NE	461	363
NH	249	150
NJ	877	203
NM	610	36
NV	285	80
NY	1,591	602
OH	948	1,429
OK	1,389	460
OR	18	217
PA	1,871	502
RI	53	72
SC	831	168
SD	253	1,450
TN	1,037	378
TX	4,104	823
UT	488	58
VA	1,457	2,200
VT	159	101
WA	76	201
WI	346	708
WV	759	843
WY	153	96

Download the data

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Open data, licensed CC BY 4.0 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19427201

How we compute this

We use NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information Storm Events database and count two inland-flooding perils at the county level between 2015 and 2024: flash floods and riverine or areal floods. Over that decade the database logs 40,522 flash-flood and 28,549 other flood events across 3,133 counties in 51 states. Coastal floods are logged by forecast zone rather than county and are not included.

A single flood that spans more than one county is recorded once in each county it affects, so our national figures count county-level events rather than unique floods. Direct deaths (1,133) and direct injuries (312) are combined across both flood types and reflect only casualties the National Weather Service attributes directly to the flooding.

Counts are grouped by state and recompute on every build; the underlying records cover the years 2015 through 2024. Counties with no recorded flood events in that window are omitted, never shown as zero, and a small number of events in U.S. territories are included in the national totals but not assigned to a state.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database

Every number here is recomputed from public federal data on each build by open-source code in the ZipCheckup repository; a dated CSV snapshot is published with each finding. No data does not mean safe.

Frequently asked questions

How common is flooding in the United States?

From 2015 through 2024, NOAA's Storm Events database logged 40,522 flash-flood events and 28,549 other flood events across 3,133 U.S. counties, causing 1,133 direct deaths and 312 direct injuries, as of December 2024. Because a flood spanning counties is counted once per county, these are county-level events rather than unique floods. according to ZipCheckup's reading of federal data as of December 2024.

Why is flooding so dangerous?

Inland flooding causes more direct deaths than most other severe-weather hazards — 1,133 from 2015 through 2024 in this data, many in flash floods where water rises in minutes. A county's recent flood history is one signal of exposure, not a forecast. ZipCheckup reports the recent county counts from NOAA's Storm Events database, as of December 2024.