59 flood insurance claims·$1.4M paid·4 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 Anderson 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 severe storms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Anderson County, Kentucky, accounting for 22 of the 34 recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside 12 general flood events. This risk is driven by weather patterns such as the slow-moving thunderstorms with high precipitable water that caused flash flooding on August 6, 2022, and the heavy rainfall systems that produced widespread flooding in February 2018 and February 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating that flood risk extends beyond designated high-risk areas. Properties located in Zone A have experienced the highest frequency of claims with 39 filings averaging $35,527 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X and unshaded Zone X areas have also experienced notable impacts, logging 9 claims with an average water depth of 12 inches and 8 claims with an average water depth of 7 inches, respectively.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within Zone A due to the high volume of claims, as well as properties in Zone X and unshaded Zone X zones where lower claim frequencies have nevertheless been associated with significant average water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
17% of Anderson County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
47 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 2010, with 9 claims and $154,314 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Tornadoes.
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.
13 NOAA storm reports from Anderson County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 2, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 2, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Landslides | Feb 14, 2025 |
| Remnants Of Hurricane Helene | Sep 27, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe, Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 27, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
34 since 1996: 22 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 3, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 6, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 31, 2018 | — |
| Flood | Feb 22, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 23, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 1, 2016 | — |
| Flood | Dec 23, 2015 | $20,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Feb 16, 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 · Aug 6, 2022. Multiple waves of showers and thunderstorms moved across central Kentucky on August 6th and 7th as an exceptionally moist environment promoted the development of precipitation across the region. Precipitable water values approaching 2 inches remained over the area both days, and a lack of significant large-scale forcing kept storm motions fairly slow. As a result, multiple instances of flash flooding were observed…
Flood · May 31, 2018. With a moisture rich and highly unstable environment, an impulse from Missouri |formed a line of severe weather that pushed from west to east across southern |Indiana and central Kentucky. This line dropped heavy rainfall which caused flooding |issues and severe winds that caused damage to property.
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 Anderson 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.