In the wake of last week’s Texas floods that killed more than 100 people, a Post analysis found the number of U.S. freshwater flood fatalities has ticked up in recent years.

A study puts the spotlight on Texas as the leading U.S. state by far for flood-related deaths, with more than 1,000 of them from 1959 to 2019

Average annual number of flood-related deaths in the U.S. between 2000 and 2024, though this figure has increased in recent years. According to a Washington Post analysis , most fatal floods are associated with tropical storms, “which studies show have become stronger and wetter amid rising global temperatures.”

The July 4 Texas Hill Country flash flooding event is the latest to hit the region known as “Flash Flood Alley,” as Texas continues to lead the U.S. in flood-related deaths. The greatest number of flood deaths in the U.

According to local authorities, at least 109 people died on July 4 and 5, most of which were swept up in floodwaters from campgrounds along the Guadalupe River. That’s just shy of the 118 deaths reported as a result of Hurricane Rita in 2005.

Florida lacks the hilly topography that supercharged torrential rain into deadly inundations in Central Texas over the July Fourth weekend, but a host of factors make the Sunshine State the most flood-prone of any other.

Steep hills, shallow soils and a fault zone have made Hill Country, also called "flash flood alley," one of the state's most dangerous regions.