513 flood insurance claims·$2.3M paid·3 federal flood & hurricane disasters
Share of the whole county outline, rivers and lakes included; parts FEMA hasn’t mapped count as zero.
Shaded areas are FEMA’s mapped flood hazard zones in and around Barton County, Kansas. Zoomed out they are simplified; at street level the map switches to FEMA’s exact layer. Tap anywhere to check that spot, or search an address above.
Regular flooding from summer thunderstorms and severe weather dominates Barton County, Kansas, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 35 flood events and 27 flash flood events over the last 30 years. Heavy rainfall routinely triggers this threat, as demonstrated on July 14, 2020, when storms dropped about 2 inches of rain and caused minor flooding. Severe weather later that year on August 25, 2019, brought torrential rains that caused tributaries to overflow, requiring sandbagging in and around Claflin in southwest Barton County.
FEMA National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage claims span multiple zones, with the highest volume concentrated in areas with unknown designations. Specifically, Zone UNKNOWN accounts for 452 claims with an average payout of $5,433 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Zone A properties account for 54 claims with an average payout of $5,596 and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Zone X accounts for 6 claims with an average payout of $9,032 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED has 1 claim with an average payout of $5,467 and an average recorded water depth of 75 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and areas with unknown flood zone classifications, as these categories record the vast majority of historical insurance claims in the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
2% of Barton County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
55 NFIP claims with a recorded rated flood zone, 1978 to date. The zone is the one FEMA used to rate that policy, which may not match today’s map. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 2 inches.
Drawn to scale against an 80-inch door. Even a few inches soaks flooring, the bottom of the drywall and anything plugged in near the floor.
Average of the depths reported on claims (zero and implausible values left out); FEMA’s record doesn’t say exactly where each depth was measured. Source: OpenFEMA NFIP claims.
The worst year was 1981, with 447 claims and $2.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding & Tornadoes.
Bar height is scaled by square root so ordinary years stay visible next to the worst one. NFIP claims by year of loss. Source: OpenFEMA.
16 NOAA storm reports from Barton County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kansas flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Jul 17, 2025 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Wildfires | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storm, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jul 14, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Straight-line Winds | Mar 17, 2022 |
| Severe Storms And Straight Line Winds | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding,landslides,and Mudslides | Apr 28, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Oct 4, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
62 since 1996: 27 flash floods and 35 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 9, 2023 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 9, 2023 | $20,000 |
| Flood | Sep 17, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Jul 14, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jul 31, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Aug 25, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 25, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 24, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 17, 2021. Heavy rains caused nuisance flooding on the 17th in Barton county.
Flood · Jul 14, 2020. Isolated severe storms moved across portions of central Kansas on July 14th, 2020, producing winds of 60-65 mph. Heavy rains around 2 inches also plagued the area causing some minor flooding.
Flood · Jul 31, 2019. In the evening on the 31st, parts of Barton County, more specifically in and around Great Bend, were lashed by 60-70 MPH winds. The winds hit the Great Bend vicinity between 8 and 9 PM CDT/7 and 8 PM CST, where & when large tree branches and power poles were blown down. The thunderstorms also produced torrential rains with a few areas receiving nearly 3 inches in only 45 minutes. No doubt, flooding occurred, most…
Flood · Aug 25, 2019. Late in evening on the 24th, severe thunderstorms broke out across Central Kansas. The severe thunderstorms produced a trifecta of hail as large as golf balls, winds that reached around 70 mph, and torrential rains that caused flooding and flash flooding. The most significant flooding and flash flooding occurred in Southwest Barton County where several tributaries overflowed requiring sandbagging in and around Cla…
National Weather Service narratives, lightly trimmed. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Every colour on the map above is a place on this drawing: where the ground sits relative to the flood FEMA plans for.
If a building in Barton County is in a high-risk zone (A or V) and its mortgage comes from a federally regulated or insured lender, or is federally backed, flood insurance is required.
Outside those zones it is optional, and often worth having: from 2014 to 2024 nearly one-third of NFIP claims came from outside the high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. Since Risk Rating 2.0, NFIP premiums are set for each building, so the only reliable price is a quote: FloodSmart.gov or a local agent.