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 Rooks 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 summer thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Rooks County, accounting for 20 of the 23 recorded flood events over the last 30 years.
Severe weather patterns regularly drive this hazard, as demonstrated by persistent storms on June 5, 2022, which produced a slow-moving supercell and multicell cluster impacting Rooks County alongside southern Phillips and western Osborne counties. Heavy rainfall from nearly stationary cells also caused localized impacts during events such as the May 2, 2021 storm along the Phillips and Rooks County line.
Property owners located near creeks, low-lying areas, and regions susceptible to rapid accumulation from intense regional thunderstorm clusters should pay the closest attention to flood risks in this county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
18 NOAA storm reports from Rooks County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kansas flood stories →
19 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 Winter Storms And Straight-line Winds | Mar 17, 2022 |
| Severe Storms And Straight Line Winds | Dec 15, 2021 |
| Rooks County Fire | Mar 4, 2017 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Sep 2, 2016 |
| Snowstorm | Feb 20, 2013 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Jun 7, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
23 since 1996: 20 flash floods and 3 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 5, 2022 | $1.0M |
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 2, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 24, 2019 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2016 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 4, 2016 | $75,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 24, 2015 | $35,000 |
| Flood | Aug 27, 2014 | $15,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 5, 2022. This Sunday afternoon-evening featured two rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms within western portions of the North Central Kansas area, both of which primarily impacted a swath running through southern Phillips, much of Rooks and far western Osborne counties. The first round, which played out between 2-7 p.m. CDT, was by far the most significant as an initially slow-moving supercell that initiated along the…
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…
Flood · May 2, 2021. Isolated large hail and damaging wind occurred during the evening hours of May 2nd over portions of north central Kansas. A isolated intense thunderstorm developed along the Phillips/Rooks County line around 5PM CDT. This cell remained nearly stationary as it intensified over the next hour and eventually produced large hail around 1 inch in diameter. This storm remained strong to severe over nearly the same area f…
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…
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 Rooks 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.