Mellette County, SD flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Mellette County sits at the 8.1th national percentile, among the lowest flood hazard in the country; driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about once every 2 years. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Who actually carries the flood insurance FEMA requires
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Mellette County's mapped flood zone, so a reliable mandatory-compliance percentage can't be computed here — see the data quality guide for why this gap exists for roughly a quarter of US counties. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0% of all residential structures in Mellette County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Mellette County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Mellette County ranks 2904 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 3053 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 1,834 people live in Mellette County, South Dakota, spread over 1,307.311 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Mellette County
0 of Mellette County's 1,266 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
Where Mellette County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Mellette County's compliance figure is one of the ones affected by FEMA's incomplete denominator data — the data quality guide explains what that means and how many counties it touches.