395 flood insurance claims·$6.4M 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 Bourbon 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.
Bourbon County experiences flood risks primarily characterized by general floods, alongside significant flash flooding driven by severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. Historical NOAA data from the last 30 years records 63 flood events resulting in two deaths, as well as 25 flash flood events. Recent flash flood events include those driven by strong systems and heavy rainfall on January 3, 2023, and widespread flooding produced by slow-moving outflow boundaries and severe thunderstorms on May 19, 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that claims occur across multiple zones, with the highest concentration in high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for 283 claims with an average payout of $18,862 and an average recorded water depth of 16 inches. Additionally, Zone X_UNSHADED properties have filed 34 claims averaging $19,610 with an average water depth of 16 inches, while Zone X properties recorded 26 claims averaging $19,776 with an average water depth of 6 inches. Zone X_SHADED recorded 12 claims averaging $18,310 with an average water depth of 8 inches, and properties with an unknown zone recorded 40 claims averaging $4,163 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents managing properties in Zone A and unshaded or shaded Zone X areas should pay the closest attention to these flood risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
14% of Bourbon County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
329 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 14 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 2015, with 73 claims and $2.1M paid, the year of Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides and Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides.
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.
19 NOAA storm reports from Bourbon County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1978, 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, 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, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Apr 2, 2015 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, And Tornadoes | May 1, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
88 since 1996: 25 flash floods and 63 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jan 3, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Feb 20, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 3, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Sep 23, 2018 | $15,000 · 1 killed |
| Flood | Feb 22, 2018 | — |
| Flood | Aug 7, 2018 | — |
| Flood | Mar 31, 2017 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jan 3, 2023. During the overnight hours and into the morning on January 3rd, a strong system moved across central Kentucky, bringing isolated damaging wind gusts and widespread heavy rainfall. The system was associated with a negatively-tilted upper-level trough which moved from the Four Corners region on January 2nd to the upper Midwest by January 4th. A surface cyclone transited in a similar fashion to the upper trough, with…
Flash Flood · May 19, 2020. May 18, the Lower Ohio Valley was primed with a moist atmosphere that was in place from southerly surface flow from the Gulf of Mexico, and as a cold front moved through the region, severe thunderstorms caused tree damage and isolated flooding. On the 19th, the flooding became more widespread as heavy rain was produced from outflow boundaries remaining in the region from the previous day's storms.
Flood · Feb 20, 2019. On February 19, 2019, a broad upper trough dipped south to the Gulf of Mexico and carried abundant amounts of moisture towards the Ohio Valley. Once the moisture was transport was underway, isentropic lift caused 1.5 to 3 of rainfall along the Mississippi and Ohio River Valleys. The higher amounts went as far north as south central Indiana.||On the 20th, an upper trough axis and cold front pushed through southern…
Flash Flood · Jul 3, 2019. Central Kentucky was sitting under an upper ridge in an area of high pressure. The air mass over Kentucky was moisture rich but contained little shear. This resulted in an environment conducive to disorganized severe weather, and that's what happened with the diurnal heating of the day. Outflow boundaries provided forcing to initiate further convection which resulted in tree damage and localized flooding issues th…
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 Bourbon 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.