142 flood insurance claims·$2.1M 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 Cowley 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.
Flash floods and river floods driven by severe weather and heavy rainfall dominate the flood history of Cowley County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 44 flash flood events and 23 general flood events. Recent activity includes heavy rainfall of 4 to 5 inches that caused flooding on May 5, 2022, and a stalled frontal boundary that produced significant flash flooding on May 8, 2019.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that high-risk Zone A properties experience the heaviest financial and structural impacts, accounting for 116 claims with an average payout of $21,221 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties located in Zone X, shaded Zone X, unshaded Zone X, and unknown zones have also recorded claims, with unshaded Zone X properties averaging a notable water depth of 14 inches across 4 claims.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties situated in high-risk Zone A, where the vast majority of insurance claims have been filed, as well as properties outside designated high-risk zones that remain vulnerable to localized flash flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Cowley County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
124 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 6 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 1998, with 78 claims and $1.1M paid, the year of Flooding 10/31/98.
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.
22 NOAA storm reports from Cowley County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kansas flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jun 3, 2025 |
| Tornadoes And Flooding | May 9, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding,landslides,and Mudslides | Apr 28, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Oct 4, 2018 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Sep 2, 2016 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Jul 22, 2013 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 22, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
67 since 1996: 44 flash floods and 23 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 27, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 31, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 5, 2022 | $100 |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 25, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 21, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 8, 2019 | $100 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Apr 27, 2024. On Saturday April 27th, there was volatile severe weather across Kansas and Oklahoma. An abundance of moisture and increasing shear through the day resulted in numerous rotating storms which produced several tornadoes across the Flint Hills into southeast Kansas. The strongest tornado was an EF-2 which occurred in Cowley County which did damage to a few outbuildings. Luckily there were no injuries or fatalities re…
Flash Flood · May 31, 2022. An extremely unstable airmass was in place across southern Kansas on May 31st as storms erupted along a stationary front from western Oklahoma into southern Kansas. Storms quickly became severe producing very large hail along with a couple brief tornadoes. In addition, they also produced very heavy rain that caused flash flooding along with subsequent river flooding.
Flood · May 5, 2022. Rich gulf moisture streamed north of a slow moving low pressure for the afternoon and overnight hours of May 4th into the early morning of May 5th, 2022. Heavy rainfall impacted a large portions of southern Kansas, with some flooding reported. Rainfall amounts of 4 to 5 inches were common.
Flash Flood · May 26, 2019. Clusters of thunderstorms with heavy rains caused further flash flooding in parts of South & Southeast Kansas in the morning on the 26th. Thunderstorms that had occurred the previous evening produced, on average, up to around 3 inches of rain. The renewed thunderstorms that occurred the following morning produced another 1 to 3 inches this morning.
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 Cowley 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.