Nationally, floods claim nearly 200 lives each year, force 300,000 people from their homes, and result in property damage in excess of $2 billion. In 2019, six out of the nine state and federally-declared disasters in Minnesota involved some sort of flooding.
About 75 percent of flash-flood deaths occur at night. Half of the victims die in automobiles or other vehicles. Many deaths occur when people drive around road barricades that clearly indicate that the road is washed out ahead. For extensive information, resources and data about flooding in the U.S. from the National Weather Service (NWS) visit the NWS Flood Safety website.
