Matagorda County Insurance: Hurricanes, Surge and River Flooding

Storms that came ashore here

Hurricane Beryl made landfall near the town of Matagorda at about 3:40 a.m. on July 8, 2024, as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 knots, about 90 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center's report on the storm. The report gives storm surge flooding of 5 to 7 feet above ground east of landfall, from Matagorda to Freeport, and 3 to 5 feet to the west toward Port O'Connor, with a high-water mark near Matagorda of 6.1 feet above the normal high-tide line. FEMA declared a major disaster for the county the next day.

Hurricane Nicholas came ashore on the eastern end of the Matagorda Peninsula shortly after midnight on September 14, 2021, less than 10 nautical miles west-southwest of Sargent Beach, with winds of about 75 mph; the hurricane center's report says Matagorda and Brazoria counties were hardest hit. NOAA's storm records describe 3 to 6 feet of surge above the normal high-tide line along the coast, with close to 8 feet estimated at Sargent once waves were included, numerous power outages, and Sargent and Matagorda especially hard hit. Nicholas brought no federal disaster declaration for the county, a reminder that the declaration count understates how often storms reach it.

Smaller systems flood the same low ground. Tropical Storm Beta in September 2020 left roads around Sargent impassable, with water 3.56 feet above the normal high-tide line at Matagorda. Hurricane Laura, which came ashore in Louisiana that August, still pushed water over the bulkhead in Palacios and damaged a pier at Sargent. In June 2024, Tropical Storm Alberto, which made landfall in Mexico, flooded FM 2031, the road from Matagorda to the beach, and caused widespread coastal flooding around Matagorda and Sargent.

Harvey and the rivers

Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport in August 2017, well down the coast, and still caused some of the county's worst flooding. NOAA's entries record major flooding in Bay City along the Colorado River as levees were overtopped by two feet, flooding in the El Dorado, Oak Grove and Tres Palacios subdivisions along the Tres Palacios River, and flooded sections of SH 60 and SH 35. A brief tornado came ashore at Sargent during the storm, badly damaging one home and overturning a motor home. The Colorado River gauge near Bay City crested at 46.16 feet on September 2, 2017, above the 46-foot major flood stage and the second-highest crest on record, behind 46.4 feet in 1960.

Since 2000, FEMA has made 19 disaster, emergency or fire-management declarations covering Matagorda County: 13 for hurricanes and tropical storms, 2 for fires, 2 for winter storms and 2 for COVID-19. The most recent major disaster declaration is Hurricane Beryl, declared July 9, 2024. Not counting COVID-19, the major declarations before it were the February 2021 winter storm and Harvey.

First-tier wind: how TWIA writes Matagorda County

Matagorda County is one of the 14 first-tier coastal counties in TWIA's designated catastrophe area, the whole county. The application needs a denial from at least one authorized insurer actively writing wind and hail in the designated area, and the structure needs its WPI-8 or WPI-8-E windstorm certificate of compliance from the Texas Department of Insurance. Wind and hail are all TWIA sells; the rest of the homeowners policy, and the flood policy, live elsewhere.

The wind policy matters outside hurricane season too. Where a home policy excludes wind and hail, that exclusion applies to a spring thunderstorm as much as to a hurricane. On June 12, 2025, a microburst produced a measured 95 mph gust at the Palacios airport; in February 2017 an EF1 tornado with winds estimated at 100 mph crossed Highway 35 at Van Vleck and badly damaged two houses; and on May 31, 2024, golf ball size hail caused damage around Blessing.

Flood: one policy most homes in the zone don't have

A standard homeowners policy excludes flood, everywhere in Texas. FEMA's flood insurance figures as of August 3, 2026, analyzed in the Texas flood insurance gap study, count 4,518 homes in Matagorda County's high-risk flood zone and 1,504 NFIP residential policies there: a take-up rate of 33.3 percent, below the 40.0 percent across Texas counties with usable data. Two of every three homes in the zone have no NFIP policy.

Homes in a Special Flood Hazard Area with a federally backed mortgage must carry flood insurance, and a new policy normally waits 30 days before it covers, with a narrow exception at a loan closing. With storms like Nicholas forming and landfalling within days, the waiting period is the reason flood decisions are made in the off-season.

Convert the wind deductible to dollars before a storm does it for you. Written out on a $337,500 dwelling limit, a 2 percent deductible is $6,750 that comes from the household first. If you carry both a TWIA policy and a home policy, each has its own deductible.

Driving Matagorda County: flooded highways and farm roads

The main state highways are SH 35, which runs along the coast through Palacios and Bay City between Corpus Christi and Houston, SH 60 from Wharton through Bay City to Matagorda, and SH 71 down through Midfield to SH 35 near Blessing. NOAA's flood entries name the roads that go under: sections of SH 35 and SH 60 in Bay City (June 2019), SH 35 Business in Palacios (May 2021), FM 111 near Midfield (May 2021), FM 456 at SH 71 (July 2021), and FM 1301 at FM 1728 in Pledger during Harvey. The average Matagorda County worker's commute is 24 minutes (Census, 2020 to 2024).

Texas requires liability of at least 30/60/25: $30,000 per injured person, $60,000 per accident, $25,000 for property damage. None of it pays for your own vehicle. Comprehensive is the coverage that pays when a car takes surge or flood water, wind-driven debris or hail. Personal injury protection and uninsured motorist coverage must be offered in Texas and stand unless you reject them in writing.

The working county around Bay City

South Texas Project, the two-unit nuclear plant about 13 miles south-southwest of Bay City, produces 2,700 megawatts. Around Bay City, Tenaris runs a seamless steel pipe mill that had more than 700 employees in 2023, Oxea (formerly OQ Chemicals) makes synthetic alcohols, aldehydes and organic acids, and LyondellBasell makes polyethylene off SH 60. The Port of Bay City manages the Colorado River channel and the Matagorda Harbor marina, and the Port of Palacios has a shrimp fleet of about 200 boats; shrimping has been a signature trade there since 1922. On the farm side, nursery crops led 2024 cash receipts at about $112 million according to Texas A&M AgriLife, followed by cow-calf and stocker cattle at about $66.8 million; among other crops, cotton, feed corn, grain sorghum and rice lead. Texas is the one state where most private employers can opt out of workers' compensation, so ask whether yours carries it; the Texas business insurance guide explains what nonsubscribers must tell employees. Group health and life coverage follow the employer's calendar, not the household's, and a home or auto policy does not adjust itself when a job changes. Treat a job change as the moment to check all three.

The Medicare file: 8,229 eligible residents in Matagorda County

CMS counts 8,229 Medicare-eligible residents in Matagorda County in its September 2026 release, and 54.08 percent of them are enrolled in Medicare Advantage. A split that close to even means both routes deserve a fresh comparison at 65: network breadth on the Advantage side, supplement pricing on the traditional side. The county's free, unbiased counseling runs through the Houston-Galveston AAA: 713-627-3200 or 800-437-7396. The statewide HICAP number is 800-252-9240.

Communities and ZIP codes in Matagorda County

Bay City, Blessing, Cedar Lane, Collegeport, Elmaton, Markham, Matagorda, Midfield, Palacios, Pledger, Van Vleck, Wadsworth.

77404 · 77414 · 77415 · 77419 · 77428 · 77440 · 77456 · 77457 · 77458 · 77465 · 77468 · 77482 · 77483