8 flood insurance claims·$167,600 paid·2 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 Osborne 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 flooding from severe summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Osborne County, backed by 13 recorded flash flood events compared to 7 standard riverine flood events over the last 30 years.
Recent history illustrates this pattern, including persistent thunderstorms on May 16, 2021, that produced heavy rainfall totals—such as 8.16 inches near Codell—along the Paradise Creek axis and caused serious flash flooding in Natoma. Heavy rainfall also drove repeated flooding during a record-wet August spanning August 23 to 25, 2019, and during slow-moving storms on July 26, 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records reflect claims in both high-risk and moderate-to-low risk areas. Zone A accounts for 6 claims with an average payout of $24,480 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches, while unshaded Zone X accounts for 2 claims with an average payout of $45,200 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Properties located in designated Zone A and unshaded Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to flood risk.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
14 NOAA storm reports from Osborne County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kansas flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 2 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 Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding,landslides,and Mudslides | Apr 28, 2019 |
| Snowstorm | Feb 20, 2013 |
| 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 Storms, Flooding And Tornadoes | May 22, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
20 since 1996: 13 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2021 | $2.0M |
| Flash Flood | Jul 26, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 24, 2019 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 1, 2018 | $30,000 |
| Flood | Aug 31, 2016 | — |
| Flood | Aug 24, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 19, 2016 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Aug 5, 2015 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 16, 2021. Persistent thunderstorms with heavy rain rates led to heavy rainfall and serious flooding in Osborne County during the early morning hours of May 16th. Highest rainfall totals included 8.16 from 1 WNW Codell, mainly between 1-4 AM CDT, 4.19 from 1 S Plainville, 4.11 from 13 SW of Tipton. The axis of heaviest rainfall occurred at the head of and alongside the Paradise Creek, which ultimately led to serious flash fl…
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 · Aug 24, 2019. Given that several official NWS cooperative observer stations within this six-county North Central Kansas area realized their wettest month of August on record (including Plainville 4WNW, Natoma and Beloit), it should come as no surprise that there were at least a few rounds of flooding rains. For some areas mainly south of the Highway 36 corridor, the roughly 48-hour period from the morning of Friday the 23rd thr…
Flash Flood · May 1, 2018. Storms produced very heavy rain, localized hail and wind damage, and even a brief tornado over north central Kansas on this Tuesday afternoon and evening. Around 2 PM CST, several thunderstorms rapidly developed southwest-to-northeast across Rooks and Smith counties. These storms merged into a line as they moved east and gradually evolved into two multicell clusters. Each cluster tracked across portions of Jewell,…
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 Osborne 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.