ZIP 28803
Buncombe County, NC

The heaviest year

2024 is the heaviest year on file: 94 paid claims, 31.1% of the ZIP's total. That one year accounts for more than a quarter of the ZIP's entire record. The largest named event in the record is Hurricane Helene, with 91 claims.

128 of those claims — 42.4% — were filed since 2017. This is not a historical record — most of it is recent.

Named event	Paid claims	Share of record
Hurricane Helene	91	30.1%
Tropical Storm Ivan	32	10.6%
Tropical Storm Fred	12	4.0%

Where the claims sat on the map

Of the 299 claims here that record a rated flood zone, 38 — 12.7% — were on properties rated outside the mapped high-risk area, in a B, C or X zone. Claims here concentrate inside the mapped high-risk area, which is what the maps intend. Flood insurance is not required outside the high-risk zone, and most properties there do not carry it — so these counts come from the minority who did.

The water near this ZIP

The closest gauges publishing official flood thresholds are Swannanoa River below Hendersonville Rd (NC 81), in Biltmore Village (2 S Asheville) (2.8 mi), French Broad River at Pearson Bridge Rd, 2 NW Asheville (6.2 mi) and Cane River (NC) at Mills Gap rd near Fletcher (6.9 mi). A gauge describes one point on one river — it will not see street drainage, sewer backup, storm surge or flash flooding.

Read current gauge conditions for 28803 →

What this does not say

These are paid National Flood Insurance Program claims, nothing more. They count insured properties whose owners filed and were paid, so they are a floor on how often this ZIP has flooded — never a measure of how likely it is to flood next. Uninsured flooding leaves no trace here at all.

The figures are aggregates published by FEMA. No individual claim, address or policyholder appears on this page or in the data behind it. Nothing here is a forecast, a warning, or advice about insurance.