County Hazards

States › North Carolina › Buncombe County › ZIP 28801

ZIP code 28801, Buncombe County, North Carolina

National Flood Insurance Program claims and payouts recorded for this ZIP code, with county context.

NCEI notes that Storm Data is compiled from a variety of sources including the National Weather Service, other federal, state and local agencies, the media and the public; that property and crop damage figures are estimates; and that some events are recorded by NWS forecast zone rather than by county. FEMA notes that NFIP claim records are redacted and aggregated to protect the privacy of policyholders. NFIP claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

ZIP code 28801, in Buncombe County, North Carolina, has 78 National Flood Insurance Program claims in the OpenFEMA record since 1978, 64 of them paid for a total of $7.2M.

That is 6.5% of the 1,192 claims recorded across Buncombe County. The average paid claim in the ZIP is $112K, close to the county average of $111K and the North Carolina average of $28K.

FEMA counts 5 repetitive-loss properties and 2 severe repetitive-loss properties in the ZIP (properties with two or more paid flood claims); their locations are not published.

At county level FEMA counts 1,026 residential flood policies in force, covering 1% of residential structures.

78NFIP claims since 1978
64paid claims
$7.2Mtotal paid
$112Kaverage paid claim

Compared with the county and state

MeasureZIP 28801BuncombeNorth CarolinaUS
Claims since 1978781,192109,5932,680,429
Share of claims paid82%78%76%78%
Average paid claim$112K$111K$28K$43K
Share of county claims6.5%100%——
Repetitive-loss properties58411,713—

Claims by year of loss

197820022026
NFIP claims in ZIP 28801 by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.
DecadeClaimsPaid
1970s6$26,077
1980s7$89,772
1990s9$339,449
2000s22$1,933,581
2010s1$5,818
2020s33$4,793,237
Year of lossClaimsPaid claimsAmount paidAverage paid
20242925$4,618,422$184,737
202043$174,816$58,272
201311$5,818$5,818
20042216$1,933,581$120,849
199811$149,196$149,196
199611$3,503$3,503
199543$181,852$60,617
199411$4,898$4,898
199320$0—
198922$33,307$16,654
198411$793$793
198333$55,099$18,366
198211$573$573
197955$21,599$4,320
197811$4,478$4,478

Claims are counted by year of loss as recorded in OpenFEMA's redacted NFIP claims file; amounts combine building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments. ZIP codes in the file are the policyholder's reported ZIP.

County context: Buncombe County

Buncombe County has 892 weather events in the NCEI record since 1950 (15 in the last 12 months), 21 federal disaster declarations, and an overall National Risk Index rating of "Relatively Moderate". Flood-type events recorded in the county: 52; hurricane-strength tracks within 50 miles: 0.

Hail: 207 · Tornado: 7 · Flood: 52 · Wind: 270 · Winter: 264 — full county page.

Questions and answers

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in ZIP 28801?

78 claims since 1978 in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file, 64 of them with a payment.

How much has the NFIP paid out in ZIP 28801?

$7.2M across 64 paid claims (building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments combined), about $112K per paid claim.

Which year had the most flood claims in 28801?

2024, with 29 claims and $4.6M paid.

What county is ZIP 28801 in?

Most claims in this ZIP carry the county code for Buncombe County, North Carolina; ZIP codes can cross county lines. The county page carries the storm record, declarations and risk index for the area.

Provenance

OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 (as of 8 Sep 2026) and NfipMultipleLossProperties v1 (2 Aug 2026), aggregated by ZIP code and year of loss on this site; no property-level record is shown. County storm figures from NOAA NCEI through 30 Jun 2026. Built 30 Sep 2026. See the guide to redacted NFIP claims and the methodology.