2 flood insurance claims·$1,872 paid·1 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 Monroe 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 storms and heavy rainfall events dominates the flood profile of Monroe County, Kentucky. Over the last 30-year period recorded in the NOAA Storm Events Database, the county experienced 17 flash flood events and two general flood events, which resulted in one fatality.
Recent occurrences illustrate these risks. On February 28, 2021, a stalled frontal boundary brought waves of heavy rainfall across central Kentucky, resulting in record rainfall and flash flooding. Later, on May 4, 2021, a cold front produced additional showers and thunderstorms over already saturated ground, causing widespread flash flooding and isolated severe wind damage following an earlier EF-1 tornado in Tompkinsville.
According to FEMA National Flood Insurance Program records, historical claims are minimal but split across designations. Zone A recorded one claim with an average payout of $1,872 and an average recorded water depth of 1 inch. Zone X also recorded one claim, with an average payout of $0 and an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Properties situated within FEMA-designated high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas, specifically Zone A, should pay the closest attention to these flood risks given the prevalence of localized flash flooding from heavy precipitation.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Monroe County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
21 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 1 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, Landslides, And Mudslides | May 21, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 3, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
19 since 1996: 17 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 28, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 4, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 13, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 23, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Dec 31, 2018 | $10,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Aug 17, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 19, 2010 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Feb 15, 2025. A strong storm system moved across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on February 15th and 16th, 2025, bringing heavy rainfall and flooding, severe weather, and winter weather to central Kentucky. The large scale upper level pattern featured deep troughing ejecting across the central CONUS, with broad southwesterly flow occurring in the low and mid troposphere. Southerly flow helped to draw rich moisture up from the G…
Flash Flood · Feb 28, 2021. A stalled frontal boundary brought waves of heavy rainfall to central Kentucky from February 26 through February 28. This caused record rainfall, isolated severe winds, and even a tornado. As a result, Bowling Green set a February daily rainfall record with 5.11 on the 28th. The severe winds brought down some trees and a power pole, but the most property damage came from a brief EF1 tornado.
Flash Flood · May 4, 2021. Early on May 3rd, central Kentucky sat in the warm sector ahead of an approaching surface low. Much of the region saw only rain showers, but one isolated cell in southern Kentucky was able to produce a short lived EF-1 tornado in the city of Tompkinsville, KY. ||On May 4th, a cold front, following the first system, produced additional rain showers and thunderstorms on the already saturated ground. The result was w…
Flash Flood · Aug 13, 2020. During this period, a stationary front extended near the Ohio River. This served as a focus for the development of isolated severe thunderstorms, but the main event was heavy rainfall that broke out during the early morning of August 14th. This rain produced areas of flash flooding in multiple counties.
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 Monroe 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.