Wells County, ND: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Wells County scores at the 4.9th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Very Low" — among the lowest flood hazard in the country. The hazard here is 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.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Wells County
FEMA hasn't published a residential structure count for Wells 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 Wells County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Wells County against the rest of the country
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Wells County ranks 2997 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 2897 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. Wells County, North Dakota is home to about 3,803 people across 1,270.535 square miles of land.
What to do next if you own or are buying in Wells County
FEMA counts 2,035 residential structures in Wells County overall, 0 of them carrying some form of NFIP coverage — but a lender or insurer cares about one parcel, not that county total.
Where Wells County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. Wells 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.