Nearly 200 People Have Been Killed By Flooding in the U.S. During the Last 16 Months

Chris Dolce
Published: May 2,2016

Flooding has proved to be extremely deadly in the United States in the last 16 months. Nearly 200 people, including 14 in Texas last month alone, have lost their lives since January 2015.
(MORE: Deadly Houston Flooding | Flooding Kills 6 in Palestine, Texas)
NOAA says that in 2015 176 people were killed by flooding in 26 states. So far in 2016 there have been 19 flood-related deaths in four states. That's a total of 195 fatalities from January 2015-April 2016.
For comparison, the 30-year average (1986-2015) number of flood deaths for a 16-month period is 108. There are typically about 81 flood deaths a year, making it, on average, the the second most deadly weather-related event behind extreme heat.
In the past 10 years, the number of flood deaths have ranged from a low of 29 in 2012 to as many as 176 last year, illustrating that there can be a great variability year to year.
Studies have shown that climate change may increase the risk of heavy rain around the world. According to a recent study, the number of days with extremely heavy precipitation has increased 1 to 2 percent every decade in both typically wet and dry locations.

Only heat has caused more deaths than flooding on an annual basis during the last 30 years (1986-2015).
(NOAA)

States That Have Had the Most Flood Deaths

The epicenter for the most flood fatalities in the last 16 months is the central United States. Parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana have seen more than a dozen significant flood events since March 2015.
(MORE: More Than a Dozen Flood Events)
Texas has had the highest number of flood deaths with 62. This includes 48 in 2015 and 14 in April 2016 (8 in Houston and 6 in Palestine).
There have been more flood deaths in Texas in the last 16 months than the combined number of tornado deaths in that state from 1998-April 2016 (55 deaths), or more than 17 years.
(MORE: Is Houston America's Flood Capital?)

Flood deaths by state January 2015-April 2016. Please note that this data is preliminary.

Five other states have flood-related death tolls in the double digits since January 2015, including Missouri (22 deaths), Utah (20 deaths), Oklahoma (17 deaths), Illinois (15 deaths), and Kentucky (10 deaths). Almost all of the fatalities in those states occurred in 2015.
At least three other states have seen flood deaths so far this year through April. Three people were killed in Louisiana and one person died in southeast Oklahoma during an early March flood event. Prior to that, a person was killed by flooding in Arkansas during early January.

What Has Contributed to the Most Flood Deaths?

In 2015, about 64 percent (112 out of 176) of the flood deaths involved vehicles. Many of those likely occurred when a person was trying to cross a flooded road, NOAA said.
Vehicles have also been involved in many of the flood-related fatalities in 2016 through April.
(MORE: Vehicles Are Dangerous in Flooding)
If there is one thing to take away from reading this article is that you should never attempt to drive through floodwaters, period.
It's easy to misjudge the depth of floodwater, particularly at night. Sometimes the bridge or road masked by flood water may have been undermined or completely washed out.
According to FEMA:
- Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars, causing loss of control and potential stalling.
- A foot of water will float many vehicles.
- Two feet of rushing water will carry away most vehicles, including SUVs and pickups.

Vehicles are left stranded on Texas State Highway 288 in Houston, Texas on May 26, 2015. (Aaron M. Sprecher/AFP/Getty Images) 

A note about this report:
For 2015, we used the deaths in NOAA's flood hazard report. Deaths in 2016 were compiled using NOAA's storm data, local storm reports from the National Weather Service, and other sources. It's possible that there have been other flood-related deaths in 2016 not uncovered in our thorough search.

PHOTOS: Flooding Strikes Houston - April 2016