Nickels-Milam House · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Storms, floods and disasters in Mountville
Mountville isn’t graded for hazard risk: Mountville has 136 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Mountville faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
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 Mountville flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Mountville. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Mountville isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Laurens County.1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Mountville
Disasters that paid out in Mountville itself (aid to households or repair grants to Mountville), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2024Hurricane Helene257 households applied for aid$235K aid approved
Laurens County has had 16 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then winter storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Old photos of Mountville after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Mountville archive →Get ready for what Mountville faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- 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 Mountville
Is Mountville 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 Laurens County, 28% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.2% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Mountville?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Mountville’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 Mountville?
By FEMA money that reached Mountville, Hurricane Helene (2024): 257 households applied for aid, $235K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Mountville.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Mountville’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.