25 flood insurance claims·$591,013 paid·5 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 Fulton 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.
River overflow along the Mississippi and other regional waterways dominates the flood profile of Fulton County, supported by frequent flash flooding. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 44 flood events resulting in one death, alongside 31 flash flood events. Recent events illustrate this risk: a prolonged river flooding event spanned mid-February into the first week of March 2025 along the Green, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers, causing minor bottomland flooding near Hickman. Additionally, a low-pressure system in January 2025 and a stationary warm front in February 2025 brought heavy rainfall and significant flash flooding in waves across western Kentucky, targeting areas including Fulton.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners in high-risk riverine areas experience the most frequent impacts. Zone A accounts for 18 claims with an average payout of $22,615 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X Shaded recorded 5 claims with an average payout of $30,236 and an average water depth of 6 inches, and Zone X recorded 1 claim with an average payout of $101,316 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within mapped high-risk flood zones and near river bottoms, where both slow-rising river floods and rapid flash flooding present ongoing property risks.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
22% of Fulton County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
23 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 3 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 2006, with 8 claims and $225,529 paid.
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.
30 NOAA storm reports from Fulton County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 5 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, Tornadoes, Landslides, And Mudslides | May 21, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Dec 10, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 6, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 21, 2018 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
75 since 1996: 31 flash floods and 44 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Mar 1, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Dec 28, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 11, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 19, 2023 | $100,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 30, 2025. A low pressure system pushing northeastward through the Quad State region brought moderate to heavy rain to Western Kentucky for the midday through evening hours. Flash flood and areal flood issues developed late afternoon to early evening in the Purchase Area and Southern Pennyrile where widespread 3 to 4 inch storm total precipitation observations occurred. A water rescue occurred near the Graves/Hickman County…
Flood · Feb 16, 2025. Heavy rain (3-7) over the lower Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on February 15th resulted in rising water levels along the Mississippi River, with prolonged minor flooding near Hickman. Minor flooding continued into early March.
Flood · Feb 16, 2025. Significant flash flooding occurred over west Kentucky, as anomalously high amounts of low-level moisture streamed northward over a warm front that became stationary along the Tennessee border. Steady rains began just after 0000CST on the 15th and continued until around 0100CST on the 16th. The rain came in waves with the first one targeting Fulton, Murray, Fort Campbell, and Guthrie with 1-2��� in the pre-d…
Flash Flood · Feb 15, 2025. Significant flash flooding occurred over west Kentucky, as anomalously high amounts of low-level moisture streamed northward over a warm front that became stationary along the Tennessee border. Steady rains began just after 0000CST on the 15th and continued until around 0100CST on the 16th. The rain came in waves with the first one targeting Fulton, Murray, Fort Campbell, and Guthrie with 1-2��� in the pre-d…
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 Fulton 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.