150
Recorded events
0
Direct deaths
0
Direct injuries
$23.4M
Property damage
Flood in Polk County, Iowa: 150 recorded events between 1996 and 2024. The strongest on record measured 0. That places the county #25 nationally and #2 statewide for this hazard.
Decade by decade
Flood in Polk County, Iowa: events per decade
Reporting practice changed over time — early decades are undercounted, not calmer.
The busiest decade for flood in Polk County is the 2010s, when 94 of the county's 150 recorded events were logged. Comparing decades is useful for spotting active periods, but the earliest years are thin because systematic reporting for this hazard began later.
Within the Polk County archive, flood makes up 7.0% of all recorded severe weather across 9 hazard types. Nationally the county sits at #25 for this hazard and #2 within Iowa, putting it in the 99.2 percentile of all U.S. counties.
Seasonality
Events by month
Jun is the peak month for flood in Polk County with 47 recorded events, while Jan is the quietest. Seasonality here is a property of the archive as much as the climate: reports cluster where population and spotter networks are densest.
Most recent
Latest recorded events
| Date | Location | Magnitude | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|
| May 24, 2024 | DES MOINES | 0 | $0 |
| May 22, 2024 | YOUNGSTOWN | 0 | $0 |
| May 22, 2024 | DES MOINES | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 7, 2022 | DES MOINES | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 23, 2019 | DES MOINES | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 23, 2019 | YOUNGSTOWN | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2019 | DES MOINES | 0 | $0 |
| Jun 1, 2019 | YOUNGSTOWN | 0 | $0 |
| May 24, 2019 | CAPITOL HGTS | 0 | $100K |
| May 24, 2019 | CLIVE | 0 | $50K |
Other hazards here
More from Polk County
- Thunderstorm Wind 729
- Hail 670
- Heavy Rain 348
- Flash Flood 118
- Tornado 68
- Lightning 42
From the record
What the reports say
Written by National Weather Service staff at the time of the event · public domain
The Des Moines River at Southeast 6th Street crested at 28.87 feet on 1 July 2018 at 17:15 UTC. The river actually went into flood at 0500 UTC on 1 July 2018, but due to database entry limitations, the start time was entered as 0000 CST on 1 July 2018.
The Des Moines River at 2nd Avenue crested at 24.00 feet on 1 July 2018 at 09:45 UTC. The river actually went into flood at 0430 UTC on 1 July 2018, but due to database entry limitations, the start time was entered as 0000 CST on 1 July 2018.
Following storms the previous day, the Des Moines River at Fleur Drive briefly went into flood stage on the 7th of June. It went into flood stage, 12.0 feet, at 5am CST on the 7th, peaked at 12.47 feet at 11:30pm CST on the 7th, and receded below flood stage at 1:30pm CST on the 7th.
Quick answers
Frequently asked
How many flood events are on record in Polk County, Iowa?
150 flood events are recorded in Polk County between 1996 and 2024, causing 0 direct deaths.
What is the strongest flood recorded in Polk County?
The strongest flood on record in Polk County measured 0.
Where does the flood data for Polk County come from?
All events come from the NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database, the federal public-domain archive of severe weather reports. Dates are UTC, damage is as reported and not inflation-adjusted, and the most recent entries may still be revised.
Cite this page
“Flood in Polk County, Iowa.” Severe Weather History. severeweatherhistory.com/county/iowa/polk-county/flood/ · Data: NOAA/NCEI, FEMA, U.S. Census — public domain.