406 flood insurance claims·$9.2M 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 Riley 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 intense summer thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Riley County, KS, based on 43 flash flood events compared to 6 general flood events recorded over the last 30 years by the NOAA Storm Events DB.
Recent history illustrates this pattern, including storms on May 17, 2022, when clusters of severe weather produced flash flooding alongside damaging winds up to 85 mph. Another notable event occurred on April 28, 2025, when training storms dropped up to 5 inches of rainfall and caused isolated flash flooding across the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims occurring across multiple zones, indicating that risks extend beyond standard high-risk areas. Zone A recorded 136 claims with an average payout of $38,505 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X recorded 114 claims with an average payout of $43,575 and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches, Zone X_SHADED recorded 47 claims with an average payout of $16,421 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches, and Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 107 claims with an average payout of $6,832 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in both designated high-risk zones and moderate-to-low risk Zone X areas, where significant claim payouts and water depths have been documented.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
53% of Riley County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
290 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 5 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 1993, with 197 claims and $1.7M paid, the year of Severe Storms & Flooding.
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.
9 NOAA storm reports from Riley County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kansas flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1966, 1 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms And Straight Line Winds | Dec 15, 2021 |
| 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 | Sep 1, 2018 |
| 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 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding And Tornadoes | May 22, 2008 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
49 since 1996: 43 flash floods and 6 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 28, 2025 | $40,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 28, 2025 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 17, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 26, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 4, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 3, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 3, 2018 | $17.2M |
| Flash Flood | Sep 2, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 28, 2025. In the late afternoon to evening hours, scattered storms developed and trained across portions of northeast Kansas, leading to isolated reports of Flash Flooding with up to 5 inches of rainfall reported. These storms also produced hail to baseball size, wind gusts to 70 mph, and a brief tornado in Pottawatomie county.
Flash Flood · May 17, 2022. Two large clusters of storms formed into a large QLCS and produced hail, damaging wind to as high as 85 mph, and flash flooding during the evening of 5/17.
Flash Flood · Jul 26, 2020. Flash flooding occurred in several counties following a batch of strong thunderstorms in north-central KS. An isolated storm in Franklin County also caused flooding.
Flash Flood · Jul 4, 2019. Slow moving, nocturnal convection resulted in multiple reports of flash-flooding during the early morning hours of July 4th.
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 Riley 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.