Seward County, NE flood risk explained
Flood hazard in Seward County sits at the 23th 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 1 years. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Seward County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Seward County's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 6.5% of them do — 13 active policies against 201 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.2% of all residential structures in Seward County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Seward County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Seward County ranks 2462 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1946 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 17,769 people live in Seward County, Nebraska, spread over 571.431 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Seward County
Across all of Seward County's 9,152 residential structures, 17 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Seward County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. If you're unsure why any of this insurance requirement exists at all, the SFHA explainer covers it from first principles.