1 flood insurance claims·$11,856 paid·1 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 Jewell 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.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 9 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.
9 NOAA storm reports from Jewell County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kansas flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1993, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Wildfires | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms And Straight Line Winds | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 13, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 4, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 14, 2012 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Jun 7, 2010 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorm | Dec 22, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
12 since 1996: 9 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 18, 2025 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 26, 2020 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 6, 2015 | $250,000 |
| Flood | May 24, 2011 | $15,000 |
| Flood | May 19, 2011 | $15,000 |
| Flood | Jun 2, 2011 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2010 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 29, 2008 | $75,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 18, 2025. Intense late afternoon and early thunderstorms produced large hail and localized flash flooding across a part of north central Kansas. Beloit was hit the hardest as hail reached 2��� in diameter. However, flash flooding thanks to nearly 6��� of rain was the problem in parts of Jewell and Smith counties. Smith County Emergency Management verified county roads flooded north of Lebanon along with water im…
Flash Flood · Jul 26, 2020. Cold front brings slow moving thunderstorms and heavy rain to extreme southern portions of south central Nebraska during the late afternoon and evening of July 26. Thunderstorms developed between 3pm and 4pm CDT from southwest to northeast, generally along a line from Rooks County in north central Kansas, to Thayer County in south central Nebraska. Once thunderstorms developed, heavy rain quickly became the main c…
Flash Flood · May 6, 2015. Thunderstorms developed early this Wednesday afternoon and evening, and predominantly produced tornadoes and flash flooding. Five tornadoes occurred over Jewell County. With no cap in place, scattered thunderstorms began developing as early as the noon hour over north central Kansas. Most storms rapidly became supercellular. These supercells began producing severe weather by 330 p.m. CDT. It was about this time th…
Flood · May 24, 2011. The time frame between the early morning hours of Tuesday the 24th into the day on Wednesday the 25th brought widespread heavy rainfall and flooding to much of North Central Kansas, in what turned out to be the second of three significant heavy rainfall events within a 2-week span. This event unfolded in two distinct waves, with the heaviest accumulations focused from the evening of the 24th into the early 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 Jewell 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.