1 flood insurance claims·$37,186 paid
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 Adair County, Kentucky. 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 frequent heavy rainfall events dominates the flood risk profile in Adair County, Kentucky, accounting for 24 out of 32 recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside 8 general flood events and 1 recorded fatality. Recent weather patterns illustrate this hazard, including a strong storm system on February 15 and 16, 2025, that brought unseasonably high moisture and heavy rainfall to the region, as well as multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms driven by a stationary front on July 31, 2024, which produced localized flash flooding. Additionally, a cold front moving into the area on April 3, 2025, brought storms that left behind widespread damage across central Kentucky.
Federal flood insurance data indicates limited historical claim activity, with a single recorded claim in Zone A averaging a payout of $37,186 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated Zone A areas, where localized high-water events during severe storm systems pose the primary flood threat.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
10 NOAA storm reports from Adair County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1971.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | May 16, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 2, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Landslides | Feb 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Landslides, And Mudslides | May 21, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 6, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
32 since 1996: 24 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 3, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 31, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 1, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 26, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 23, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Dec 25, 2015 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Feb 15, 2025. A strong storm system moved across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on February 15th and 16th, 2025, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding, severe weather, and winter weather to central Kentucky. The large scale upper level pattern featured deep troughing ejecting across the central CONUS, with broad southwesterly flow occurring in the low and mid troposphere. Southerly flow helped to draw rich moisture up from the G…
Flash Flood · Apr 3, 2025. On the night of April 2nd, 2025, a cold front approached the lower Ohio Valley. Along and ahead of the cold front, numerous supercells developed over southern Illinois and western Kentucky. These storms tracked eastward and occasionally grew upscale into a QLCS with bowing segments. Storms lasted all night and into the morning hours, as the cold front began to stall over the lower Ohio Valley. These storms left be…
Flash Flood · Jul 31, 2024. A stationary front was located over the lower Ohio Valley from July 30th into July 31st, with upper level flow oriented from northwest to southeast across the region. This upper flow pattern brought multiple waves of showers and thunderstorms across southern Indiana and central Kentucky over this two day stretch. Scattered strong to severe storms mainly produced wind damage, with localized flash flooding also bein…
Flash Flood · Jan 1, 2022. During New Year's Eve into New Year's Day, active weather was observed across Kentucky as several waves of low pressure moved along a frontal boundary that was stalled across the region. This resulted in multiple rounds of widespread precipitation, and rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches with locally higher amounts observed across the area. As the boundary lifted north as a warm front New Year's Day, strong to sever…
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 Adair 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.