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Home Insurance in Lake Cherokee, TX
Storm reports, flood records and FEMA hazard ratings for Rusk County, with plain-English notes on how strong wind and tornadoes risks show up in a Lake Cherokee policy.
$4,232/yr
About $353/mo · ~$300k-$400k dwelling class
$2,620/yr
About $218/mo after modeled shopping discount
About 38.1% below local market estimate
Lake Cherokee hazard snapshot
The National Risk Index from FEMA scores Rusk County as relatively low for combined natural-hazard risk. The highest-rated individual hazards are strong wind (relatively high), tornadoes (relatively moderate) and winter weather (relatively moderate).
Strong wind is rated relatively high in Rusk County, which means straight-line wind claims to roofs and fences are common.
With tornadoes rated relatively moderate, check that loss-of-use coverage would carry you through a long rebuild.
Winter weather risk is relatively moderate in Rusk County; insulating exposed pipes and knowing where the water shutoff is can prevent a large claim.
Lightning is rated relatively moderate in Rusk County. Fire from a strike is a covered peril; ask how your policy treats power-surge damage to appliances and electronics.
Recent severe weather in Rusk County
Hail turned up 56 times in Rusk County in NOAA’s database between 2016 and 2025. Quarter-size or larger stones, an inch and up, appear in 47 of them. The biggest stones, 3 inches across, fell on April 9, 2021. Tornado records for Rusk County show 17 touchdowns from 2016 through 2025, topped by an EF3 on April 13, 2019.
There were also 188 damaging-wind reports from thunderstorms, topping out around 100 mph. The same records include 33 flash flood events.
FEMA has issued 10 natural-hazard major disaster declarations covering Rusk County since 2000. Recent ones: Hurricane Beryl (2024), Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding (2024) and Severe Winter Storms (2021).
Who covers wind in Lake Cherokee?
Since Rusk County is not a TWIA county, look at how your homeowners policy handles wind and hail, including whether that deductible is a flat amount or a percentage of the dwelling limit.
Flood insurance in Lake Cherokee
Flood insurance for unincorporated areas is handled through Rusk County, which participates in the National Flood Insurance Program. NFIP data counts 57 residential flood policies in Rusk County, about 1 for every 316 homes. Rusk County has produced 10 NFIP claims from 2016 on. Standard homeowners policies exclude flood, and a new NFIP policy generally has a 30-day waiting period.
Your flood zone is a quick search away on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
How Lake Cherokee homes are built and valued
According to the Census Bureau, the typical home in Lake Cherokee went up around 1988. Homes built before 1980 make up about 41% of the total; those built since 2000 account for 29%. Owners in Lake Cherokee put the median value of their homes at $345,000. For comparison, Rusk County as a whole comes in at $171,300. Land value is part of a sale price but not of a rebuild, so the right Coverage A figure can be well above or below market value.
Local records and contacts for Lake Cherokee
Lake Cherokee straddles county lines; county-level figures here use Rusk County, though parts of Lake Cherokee sit in Gregg County. Commuting ties put Rusk County in the Longview metro as an outlying county. Head about 13 miles from Lake Cherokee and you reach Longview, the nearest larger city.
Insurers often check the appraisal district record, so confirm that what the Rusk district shows at www.ruskcad.org matches your home. Its office is at 107 N. Van Buren St. Henderson, TX 75652-3113. Severe weather warnings for Lake Cherokee come from the NWS Shreveport, LA office. Its assigned radar site for Lake Cherokee is KSHV.
FAQ: Lake Cherokee storm and flood coverage
How common are hailstorms in Rusk County?
From 2016 through 2025, NOAA logged 56 hail reports in Rusk County, 47 of them with stones an inch or larger. FEMA’s National Risk Index rates the county’s hail risk relatively low. Compare how each carrier settles roof claims and what a percentage deductible would cost you out of pocket.
How do wind and hail deductibles work in Lake Cherokee?
Pick the deductible you could pay the week after a storm. Percentage deductibles scale with the dwelling limit, so 1% on a $400,000 limit means $4,000 per claim, while flat deductibles stay fixed. Rusk County logged 47 reports of hail an inch or larger from 2016 through 2025, so run the numbers both ways.
Does Texas law require home insurance in Lake Cherokee?
Only your lender can require it; Texas itself does not. If the home is paid off, the choice is yours, but one serious storm or fire can cost far more than years of premiums.
Does my Lake Cherokee policy cover a burst pipe after a freeze?
Generally yes, if a pipe bursts suddenly and you kept the home reasonably heated. FEMA rates winter weather risk in Rusk County as relatively moderate. Slow leaks, mold and wear are commonly excluded.
Request a Lake Cherokee homeowners quote
Texas Insurance Resources shops multiple carriers for you. Call 800-875-4711 or start online.
Data sources and notes
All public data on this page was pulled in October 2026. Census numbers are survey estimates. Price estimates near the top are Texas Insurance Resources models for comparison, not quotes or published averages.
- NOAA NCEI storm reports, Rusk County
- Comptroller economic regions
- OMB metro and micro areas
- Census Gazetteer files
- TWIA eligibility
- NWS Shreveport, LA
- NFIP data (OpenFEMA), Rusk County
- FEMA NRI county ratings, Rusk County
- Comptroller county directory, Rusk County
- FEMA declared disasters, Rusk County
- County and state comparisons: Rusk County value, Rusk County build year
- Census ACS 2020–2024, Lake Cherokee CDP: median year built, year built, structure type, tenure, population, home value