2,618 flood insurance claims·$36.8M paid·12 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 Floyd 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 heavy rainfall events and river floods dominate the history of Floyd County, backed by 112 flash flood events and 86 general flood events recorded over the last 30 years. Recent regional events include heavy soaking rains from a slow-moving low-pressure system in January 2025, as well as severe weather bringing intense rainfall and convective squall lines in April 2025 and May 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records show significant impacts across multiple zones, led by Zone A with 1,683 claims averaging $18,098 in payouts and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Properties mapped in Zone UNKNOWN account for 573 claims with an average payout of $10,492 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Additional claims occur in Zone X with 153 claims averaging $18,359 and an average water depth of 12 inches, Zone X_SHADED with 141 claims averaging $7,493 and an average water depth of 13 inches, and Zone X_UNSHADED with 68 claims averaging $24,565 and an average water depth of 10 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, as well as unmapped or unstudied areas categorized under Zone UNKNOWN, where thousands of historical claims indicate recurring flood exposure.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
11% of Floyd County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,892 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 8 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 1984, with 553 claims and $6.1M paid, the year of High Winds, Tornadoes & 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.
107 NOAA storm reports from Floyd County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
48 federal disaster declarations since 1967, 12 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 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2025 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 15, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 26, 2022 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
198 since 1996: 112 flash floods and 86 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | $20,000 |
| Flood | Apr 11, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | $35,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 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 · 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…
Flood · Apr 11, 2024. A strengthening low pressure system and several frontal boundaries all came together across eastern Kentucky during the day on April 11, 2024. Radar showed scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms across the state through much of the day. By the early afternoon, SPC issued a watch for the far eastern portion of the state and into neighboring western Virginia, much of West Virginia, and Southeast Ohio. The m…
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 Floyd 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.