[1] The town was evacuated as a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster—being directly downwind from the power plant—and was within the exclusion zone set up in response to the disaster.

On April 1, 1889, the village of Namie was created within Naraha District, Fukushima with the establishment of the modern municipalities system.

Namie was severely affected by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

During the evacuation, many town residents took refuge at a community center in western Namie in the belief that seasonal winds would blow radiation from the plant in a different direction.

It was revealed months later that the national and prefectural governments had known about the direction of the plume due to forecasts by the SPEEDI computer system, but had decided not to tell evacuees in order to prevent a panic.

Tamotsu Baba, Namie's mayor at the time, said the decision to withhold information from his town was akin to "murder.

The device was installed in a temporary housing in Nihonmatsu, Fukushima, in order to monitor the internal radiation exposure and the health of the citizens of Namie.

Another reason for this was the excessive exposure to radiation during the first days directly after the nuclear disaster in March 2011, when predictions from SPEEDI were ignored by the Fukushima Prefectural government.

[11][12] On October 27, 2016, a brand new shopping mall, Machi Nami Marche, was opened in the town, with the intention that it would aid the return of people to the area in the event that the evacuation orders were lifted.

[13] On April 1, 2017, restrictions were lifted on the first and second zones, allowing residents to return to those areas, although a poll indicated over half did not intend to do so.

The majority of the town's hinterland remains in zone 3, with access completely prohibited due to high residual radiation.