188 flood insurance claims·$7.7M 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 Letcher 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 driven by heavy summer storms and frequent general flooding dominates the flood history of Letcher County, Kentucky. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 49 flash flood events resulting in 3 deaths, alongside 36 general flood events. Recent activity includes heavy rain and flooding from slow-moving systems in May 2025, and a multi-day series of training thunderstorms between July 25 and July 30, 2022, that produced deadly flash flooding and river flooding across eastern Kentucky.
Federal insurance data underscores that flood risks extend beyond high-risk zones. FEMA records 138 claims in Zone A, with an average payout of $59,581 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Additionally, Zone X properties account for 16 claims averaging $68,530 with an average water depth of 2 inches, while 31 claims in unknown zones averaged $10,111 with an average water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within designated high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas (Zone A) where claim volumes are highest, as well as properties in Zone X and unmapped areas where damaging floods have also resulted in costly insurance payouts.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
2% of Letcher County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
141 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 2022, with 91 claims and $6.7M 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.
23 NOAA storm reports from Letcher County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
40 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, Tornadoes, And Flooding | 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 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jul 26, 2022 |
| Severe, Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 27, 2021 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
85 since 1996: 49 flash floods and 36 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 28, 2022 | — · 3 killed |
| Flash Flood | Aug 1, 2022 | $15,000 |
| Flood | Mar 28, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2020 | $350,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 20, 2019 | — |
— = 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…
Flood · May 13, 2025. With high pressure exiting to the east of the state, a weak low pressure system started to form to our southwest, slowly moving northeast, making it through western KY between 18 and 21Z. This was accompanied by a closed upper level low, which was allowing for strong advection of warm and especially moist air into the region, focused across the east part of Kentucky. The result was showers and thunderstorms that p…
Flood · Jul 28, 2022. Between July 25th and July 30th, 2022, several complexes of training thunderstorms developed south of I-64 and brought heavy rain, deadly flash flooding, and devastating river flooding to eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. These thunderstorms, at times, caused rainfall rates in excess of 4/hr across complex terrain that led to widespread devastating impacts. While it did not rain continuously during this 4-d…
Flash Flood · Jul 28, 2022. Between July 25th and July 30th, 2022, several complexes of training thunderstorms developed south of I-64 and brought heavy rain, deadly flash flooding, and devastating river flooding to eastern Kentucky and central Appalachia. These thunderstorms, at times, caused rainfall rates in excess of 4/hr across complex terrain that led to widespread devastating impacts. While it did not rain continuously during this 4-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 Letcher 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.