How much flood risk does Storey County actually carry?
Storey County lands at the 9.8th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Very Low" territory — among the lowest flood hazard in the country — with the hazard 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. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Storey County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Storey 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, 47.9% of them do — 173 active policies against 361 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Storey County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 7.6% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Storey County against the rest of the country
Storey County sits at rank 2854 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 2873 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 4,112 people live in Storey County, Nevada, spread over 263.8 square miles.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Storey County
Across all of Storey County's 2,330 residential structures, 178 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Storey County's numbers. The guide to what the Special Flood Hazard Area actually means explains why the mandatory-insurance rule exists and who it applies to.