Joshua B. Cary House · Photo: Z28scrambler · CC BY-SA 3.0Storms, floods and disasters in Centerville
Centerville isn’t graded for hazard risk: Centerville has 685 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Centerville faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Coastal flooding
River and rain flooding
Shares are of FEMA’s expected building damage, the measure the grade uses; ranks compare each hazard’s building-damage rate with all 85,154 U.S. census tracts. In FEMA’s terms, river and rain flooding is FEMA’s “Inland Flooding” (rivers and streams overflowing their banks, or rain overwhelming drainage). FEMA defines coastal flooding as high or rising tides and storm surge, so surge damage is counted there. Drought isn’t listed: FEMA counts its losses in crops only.
Does Centerville flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Centerville. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Centerville isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: St. Mary Parish.7 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Centerville
Disasters that paid out in Centerville itself (aid to households or repair grants to Centerville), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2024Hurricane Francine18 households applied for aid$75K aid approved
- 2021Hurricane Ida12 households applied for aid$10K aid approved
- 2012Hurricane Isaac13 households applied for aid$18K aid approved
- 2008Hurricane Ike20 households applied for aid$55K aid approved
- 2008Hurricane Gustav88 households applied for aid$98K aid approved
- 2005Hurricane Rita120 households applied for aid$100K aid approved
Show all 7
- 2005Hurricane Katrina35 households applied for aid$38K aid approved
St. Mary Parish has had 34 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then floods.
Old photos of Centerville after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Centerville archive →Get ready for what Centerville faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Know your evacuation zone and the way off the coast.
- Storm surge comes fast: leave when you’re told, not when the water arrives.
- Move cars to high ground before king tides and nor’easters.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Questions about natural hazards in Centerville
Is Centerville in a flood zone?
Flood zones are drawn street by street, so the answer depends on the address: look it up on FEMA’s flood map. In St. Mary Parish, 26% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 12.4% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Centerville?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Centerville’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
What was the biggest storm in Centerville?
By FEMA money that reached Centerville, Hurricane Rita (2005): 120 households applied for aid, $100K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Centerville.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Centerville’s residents lived in the 2020 census; OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. FEMA’s model is an average of expected damage, not a forecast. How hazard risk is graded.