187 flood insurance claims·$4.9M paid·2 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 Mercer 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 events dominates the flood character of Mercer County, accounting for 17 of the 27 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 10 standard flood events.
Recent history underscores these risks. On July 1, 2021, heavy rainfall from a moist unstable air mass and a moving cold front produced area flash flooding after a flash flood watch was issued. Later, on December 16, 2019, a slow-moving front and a surge in low-level moisture caused prolonged periods of heavy rainfall, resulting in standing water and closed roads under an active flood watch.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that properties in high-risk Zone A face the heaviest concentrations of risk, logging 113 claims with an average payout of $29,459 and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. However, properties in Zone X also experience significant impacts, accounting for 41 claims with an average payout of $34,024 and an average recorded water depth of 5 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where historical payouts and water depths demonstrate consistent vulnerability to both flash floods and standard flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
4% of Mercer County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
118 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 2010, with 35 claims and $1.5M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Tornadoes.
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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Mercer County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 2 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, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 12, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, And Tornadoes | May 1, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
27 since 1996: 17 flash floods and 10 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 17, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Dec 16, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 31, 2018 | — |
| Flood | May 10, 2016 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2015 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 3, 2015 | — |
— = 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 · Jul 1, 2021. Early on July 1st, there was a moist unstable air mass over southern Indiana and central Kentucky. Farther north in Indiana, a west to east oriented cold front was working its way south. This resulted in heavy rainfall and area flash flooding over central Kentucky as the front moved through the region. A Flash Flood Watch was in place before the event.
Flash Flood · Jul 17, 2019. On July 14th, as the remains of Hurricane Barry advanced up the Mississippi River Valley, an outer boundary of storms moved northward over the Ohio River Valley. This caused localized tree and power line damage north of Lexington, Kentucky. ||On July 15th, the circulation that was Barry entered central Kentucky, and over the next few days, it produced heavy rainfall rates and damaging winds. This caused isolated f…
Flood · Dec 16, 2019. December 16, 2019, a flood watch was in place for areas of central Kentucky as widespread rainfall was expected to continue across the region. The rain was the result of a moist airmass, with precipitable water values of 1 to 1.25 inches, overrunning a slow moving front that stretched from the Red River Valley to the mid Atlantic. During the afternoon and evening, a surge in low level moisture and transport caused…
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 Mercer 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.