566 flood insurance claims·$7.3M paid·9 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 Bell 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 summer thunderstorms and general flooding dominate the historical record in Bell County, Kentucky, with NOAA data recording 61 flash flood events and 44 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent occurrences include a soaking rain event driven by a trailing cold front in January 2025, and multiple severe thunderstorm and heavy rainfall events in July and August 2024 that brought unstable air masses and flash flooding to the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that flood impacts span multiple zones, with the highest claim volume concentrated in high-risk areas. Properties located in Zone A account for 450 claims, averaging a payout of $14,982 with an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Meanwhile, shaded Zone X properties experienced 69 claims averaging $24,889 with an average water depth of 3 inches, unshaded Zone X properties recorded 18 claims averaging $11,561 with an average water depth of 5 inches, and standard Zone X properties recorded 19 claims averaging $27,631 with an average water depth of 4 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated in Zone A and Zone X variants, where historical claims demonstrate consistent financial risk and recorded water accumulation from heavy rainfall events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
16% of Bell County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
537 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 6 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 2011, with 119 claims and $3.1M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and 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.
58 NOAA storm reports from Bell County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
29 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 9 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, Flooding, And Landslides | Feb 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2025 |
| Remnants Of Hurricane Helene | Sep 27, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 15, 2023 |
| Severe, Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 27, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 3, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
105 since 1996: 61 flash floods and 44 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 31, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 2, 2024 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 10, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 31, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 29, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2022 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 31, 2025. A closed upper level low slowly moved out of SW CONUS and opened into a positively tilted trough as it approached KY. Large scale flow ahead of the lows approaching cold front, pulled gulf moisture northward. Soaking rain resulted for much of the area, as this moisture rich air lifted over a warm front as it progressed northward. On Friday, the 31st, the trailing cold front pushed through the area tapering rain of…
Flash Flood · Jul 31, 2024. SPC had much of the state, including easter KY in a slight risk for severe thunderstorms for the day Wednesday July 31. According to SPC: Similar to yesterday, a seasonally strong belt of northwesterly flow aloft will persist today from the lower Ohio Valley to the southern Appalachians and coastal Southeast. Much of this will reside atop a moist and very unstable air mass, especially across parts of the lower Ohi…
Flash Flood · Aug 2, 2024. By impact standards, this was the least impactful of the four days. By 12Z Friday morning, August 2nd, the cold/stationary front to our northwest finally started to push eastward into western Kentucky. A line of storms had already developed along it and pushed well ahead of it. By the time it reached western Kentucky. The line of storms was already moving into central Kentucky. Thankfully as it reached eastern Ke…
Flash Flood · Sep 10, 2023. A warm front moved eastward towards the Kentucky border counties during the day on September 9th, 2023. It then stalled during the afternoon and evening along the highest terrain just east of the state. Showers and thunderstorms developed just ahead of this front and moved westward into eastern Kentucky. As the front stalled, the storms began back-building and training across some of the same areas. Bell County wa…
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 Bell 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.