Flood history
Has this address flooded? How to check a property’s flood history
You can’t type an address into a government website and see whether the house has flooded. But between the seller, a handful of public flood records, and the land itself, a buyer can usually get a clear picture before closing.
FEMA’s flood insurance claims for a specific address are private, and only the current owner can request them. So: ask the seller for the disclosure form, the property’s flood-loss history from FEMA and an insurance claims (CLUE) report; check the public record for the area, which shows which storms flooded it and when; and read the land: the flood zone, low spots and drainage paths around the lot.
What isn’t public, and why
Most U.S. flood insurance goes through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and its records on individual policies and claims are protected by the Privacy Act. FloodSmart, the NFIP’s public site, says buyers can’t get a property’s past claims under current federal law.
What FEMA does publish is every NFIP claim since 1978 without names or addresses: the year and date of loss, ZIP code, census block group, flood zone and amount paid. Coordinates are rounded to one decimal place, roughly six miles. That’s enough to see when and how often an area has flooded, but never a single house.
Ask the seller for these four things
The person who can unlock a property’s own flood history is its current owner. Put these requests in writing, ideally with your agent, before your option or inspection period ends.
| Ask for | What it shows | Limits |
|---|---|---|
| Seller’s disclosure | In states that require it, the seller’s answers about past flooding, flood insurance claims and disaster aid. | Many states don’t require flood questions at all. |
| NFIP flood-loss history | The dates and dollar amounts of past NFIP claim payments on the property, including from before the current owner bought it. | Only the current owner can request it from FEMA. Covers NFIP-insured losses only. |
| CLUE report | Up to seven years of home insurance claims on the property (LexisNexis). Verisk’s A-PLUS report is similar. | Owner only; one free report a year. May not include NFIP flood claims. |
| Flood insurance and Elevation Certificate | Whether the house is insured for flood, what it costs, and how high the building sits relative to the base flood elevation. | Not every house has an Elevation Certificate. |
To get the FEMA flood-loss history, the owner sends the NFIP a signed request with a statement of ownership; many county floodplain offices have FEMA’s request letter, and the NFIP’s data FAQ explains the process.
Seller disclosure laws vary by state
No federal law requires sellers to disclose past flooding, but a growing number of states ask:
| State | Since | What the disclosure covers |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Sept. 2019 | Previous flooding, flood insurance claims with any insurer (including the NFIP), and FEMA or SBA flood aid. |
| New York | March 2024 | Flood history, flood insurance claims and federal aid. Sellers can no longer skip the form with a $500 credit. |
| Florida | Oct. 2024, expanded Oct. 2025 | Flood insurance claims, federal flood aid and flood damage during their ownership, at or before signing. |
| North Carolina | July 2024 | Flood questions, but “No Representation” is allowed, so a blank answer tells you nothing. |
| South Carolina, Louisiana | Flooding questions on the disclosure form. |
For other states, see NRDC’s flood disclosure map. Even a required disclosure can’t cover flooding before the seller owned the house; the FEMA loss history can.
A clean CLUE report isn’t proof the house never flooded. Standard homeowners policies don’t cover flooding, flood claims usually go through the NFIP instead, and many flooded homes had no flood insurance at all.
Check the public record for the area
Public flood records won’t name the house, but they show which storms hit the neighborhood and how hard. Here is what the claims record looks like for one county:
Terreflow’s county flood and drainage maps show the same FEMA claims history for 20 flood-prone counties, from Houston and New Orleans to Miami and Charleston, next to a terrain drainage map of each county.
| Record | What it shows | Where |
|---|---|---|
| FEMA flood claims | Claims by year and flood zone for a ZIP code or census block group. | OpenFEMA, or our free flood zone lookup for an address’s ZIP code |
| High-water marks | How high the water reached after major floods and hurricanes. | USGS Flood Event Viewer |
| Post-storm aerial photos | Standing water, debris lines or tarps, often within days of a storm. | NOAA emergency response imagery |
| Historical satellite photos | Older images, sometimes taken right after a flood. | Google Earth’s historical imagery |
| Storm reports | Floods and flash floods by county, fully covered from 1996. | NOAA Storm Events Database |
| Flood Insurance Study | The study behind the local flood map, often with the community’s historic floods. | FEMA Map Service Center |
| Neighbors and the county | How the street did in the last big storm; known problem areas and drainage complaints. | Next-door owners; the county or city stormwater office |
Read the land and the house
A house that has never flooded can still sit where water collects. Check the FEMA flood zone (see Is my house in a flood zone?), and look at the terrain: is the lot lower than the street, at the foot of a slope, or in the path of a drainage line? Terreflow’s surface drainage map shows where rainwater runs and collects around an address. Our terrain checklist covers what to look for.
At the showing or inspection, look for physical signs of past water:
- water lines or staining on walls, fences, the foundation or the water heater;
- new drywall, baseboards or flooring only on the lowest floor or the bottom few feet of walls;
- a musty smell, mold, or a dehumidifier running in a basement or crawlspace;
- rust on the bottom of appliances and HVAC equipment, or silt in the crawlspace;
- a sump pump, French drain or fresh grading, and ask why it was installed.
See where water goes around a property
Terreflow maps the terrain drainage around an address next to its FEMA flood zone: where rain runs, where it collects, and whether the lot is in its path.
Analyze an address →Sources
- FloodSmart (NFIP), FAQs about NFIP data
- DHS/FEMA-003, National Flood Insurance Program Files system of records, 79 FR 28747 (2014)
- FEMA, OpenFEMA: NFIP Redacted Claims (v3), retrieved October 8, 2026
- Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, LexisNexis CLUE and Verisk A-PLUS
- Texas Legislature, SB 339 (2019), Property Code §5.008; Florida Statutes §689.302
- NRDC, Flood disclosure map
- USGS, Flood Event Viewer; NOAA, Emergency Response Imagery and Storm Events Database