Accomack County, VA flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Accomack County sits at the 96.8th national percentile, among the highest flood hazard in the country; driven by coastal storm surge rather than inland rivers — FEMA's model puts a surge event here at about 3.7 times a year. That's a county-wide figure, not a per-address one — FEMA's parcel maps are a live lookup, not a bulk file.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
42.1% of the homes FEMA requires to carry flood insurance in Accomack County — those inside the mapped Special Flood Hazard Area — actually have a policy in force: 2,278 policies against 5,418 mandated structures, which means a meaningful share of legally-required coverage simply isn't there. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 13.4% of all residential structures in Accomack County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
How Accomack County compares nationally
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Accomack County ranks 112 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1356 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Accomack County, Virginia is home to about 33,411 people across 449.305 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Accomack County
Across all of Accomack County's 19,852 residential structures, 2,660 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Accomack County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Accomack County's coastal exposure is covered in the coastal vs. inland flood risk guide, including how storm surge risk differs from river flooding.