207 flood insurance claims·$7.6M paid·14 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 Breathitt 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 weather and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk in Breathitt County, Kentucky, accounting for 80 recorded events and 11 deaths over the last 30 years alongside 57 general flood events and 1 death. Recent flood events occurred in April 2025 and May 2025, driven by severe weather rounds producing heavy rainfall, large hail, and localized damaging winds across the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that properties situated in FEMA Zone A have experienced the highest concentration of losses in the county, with 160 claims averaging a payout of $43,339 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties in Zone X accounted for 14 claims with a higher average payout of $120,001 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches, while 32 claims were filed in Zone UNKNOWN with an average payout of $6,347 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Zone X_SHADED recorded 1 claim averaging a $4,530 payout with an average recorded water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within FEMA Zone A and Zone X, where historical claims demonstrate significant financial loss and measurable water depths during heavy rain and flash flood events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Breathitt County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
161 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 2022, with 72 claims and $4.7M paid, the year of Severe Storms, 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.
60 NOAA storm reports from Breathitt County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
49 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 14 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| 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, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
137 since 1996: 80 flash floods and 57 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 17, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 2022 | — · 11 killed |
| Flash Flood | May 6, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 1, 2022 | $20,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 17, 2025. Eastern Kentucky experienced multiple rounds of severe weather from May 16th into the early morning hours of May 17th.||The initial round of severe weather, occurring during the morning and early afternoon, produced swaths of large to significant hail (approaching baseball size), localized damaging winds, and heavy rainfall. Notably, intense thunderstorm wind gusts impacted downtown London, tearing a roof off the…
Flash Flood · May 16, 2025. Eastern Kentucky experienced multiple rounds of severe weather from May 16th into the early morning hours of May 17th.||The initial round of severe weather, occurring during the morning and early afternoon, produced swaths of large to significant hail (approaching baseball size), localized damaging winds, and heavy rainfall. Notably, intense thunderstorm wind gusts impacted downtown London, tearing a roof off the…
Flood · May 16, 2025. Eastern Kentucky experienced multiple rounds of severe weather from May 16th into the early morning hours of May 17th.||The initial round of severe weather, occurring during the morning and early afternoon, produced swaths of large to significant hail (approaching baseball size), localized damaging winds, and heavy rainfall. Notably, intense thunderstorm wind gusts impacted downtown London, tearing a roof off the…
Flash Flood · Apr 4, 2025. On the afternoon of the 2nd a strong surface low was located over the MN/WI area, with a warm front extending southwest through the OH valley, and a trailing cold front extending SSE through the Ozarks. By 00Z (the evening of the 2nd), a strong convective squall line had developed across the Ohio and Mississippi Valley which slowly continued east through the evening. By early morning on the 3rd this strong, noctur…
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 Breathitt 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.