How much flood risk does Wood County actually carry?
Wood County lands at the 89.6th percentile of FEMA's National Risk Index for flooding, "Relatively Moderate" territory — a middling flood hazard by national standards — with the hazard driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.9 times a year. This describes the county, not any one street — FEMA only publishes exact parcel zones through a live map service.
Wood County's flood-insurance compliance gap
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Wood 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, 10.4% of them do — 163 active policies against 1,564 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Across all residential structures in Wood County, not just the ones FEMA mandates, 0.6% carry an NFIP policy — most flood damage nationally happens outside the mapped high-risk zone, so that broader number matters too.
Wood County against the rest of the country
Wood County sits at rank 344 of 3144 counties on FEMA's flood hazard scale (1 is worst) and rank 708 of 3144 by population (1 is biggest). About 82,757 people live in Wood County, West Virginia, spread over 366.5 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Wood County
184 of Wood County's 32,056 residential structures carry flood coverage of some kind, per FEMA's latest count — useful context, not a substitute for checking one parcel.
More on how this number was built
The methodology guide shows exactly which FEMA and Census tables feed Wood 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.