1,518 flood insurance claims·$32.0M paid·6 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 Franklin 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 and severe thunderstorms dominates the flood risk in Franklin County, Kentucky. Over the last 30 years, NOAA records show 36 flash flood events resulting in 5 deaths, alongside 20 standard flood events resulting in 1 death. Recent occurrences include minor flooding from slow-moving storms in May 2022, heavy rainfall driven by a stationary front in August 2022, a moisture-fuelled disturbance in September 2022, and a multi-day storm system in April 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that high-risk Zone A properties experience the heaviest financial impact, accounting for 1,180 claims with an average payout of $25,405 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties categorized under Zone UNKNOWN filed 130 claims averaging $14,637 with an average depth of 6 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X, Zone X shaded, and Zone X unshaded recorded a combined 208 claims with average payouts ranging from $11,304 to $42,637 and average water depths of 3 to 8 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents with properties in high-risk Zone A, as well as unmapped or moderate-risk Zone X areas, should pay the closest attention to local drainage patterns and severe weather alerts given the county's consistent flash flood history.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
9% of Franklin County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,294 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 1989, with 394 claims and $3.5M paid, the year of Severe Storms & 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.
25 NOAA storm reports from Franklin County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
27 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 6 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 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
56 since 1996: 36 flash floods and 20 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | May 14, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 10, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 3, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 19, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Dec 11, 2021 | — · 1 killed |
| Flood | Feb 22, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 18, 2018 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 4, 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 · May 14, 2022. Scattered clusters of showers and thunderstorms developed in the afternoon hours ahead of a weakening stationary front oriented north to south across the lower Midwest. Storms fed off of diurnal instability and gradually moved southward from southern Indiana into the Louisville metro, where they intensified enough to cause scattered wind damage. Minor flooding occurred as a result of heavy rainfall in Franklin Cou…
Flash Flood · Aug 10, 2022. On August 9th and 10th, a quasi-stationary surface front meandered along the Ohio River, serving as a focus for the development of daytime showers and thunderstorms. Immediately south of the surface boundary, an unusually moist environment was present, with precipitable water values exceeding 2 inches across central Kentucky. As a result, as modest instability developed during the afternoon hours on the 9th, scatt…
Flash Flood · Sep 3, 2022. During the afternoon and evening hours on September 3rd, a combination of ample moisture and sufficient instability provided the necessary ingredients for widespread convection, resulting in locally heavy rainfall and isolated wind damage reports. On the synoptic scale, a weak mid-level disturbance was located across the mid-Mississippi Valley, with a surface low located across western Kentucky. Ahead of this dist…
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 Franklin 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.