49 flood insurance claims·$1.1M 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 Morgan 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 and river flooding driven by heavy rainfall dominate Morgan County, with NOAA records detailing 41 flash flood events and 34 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include a nocturnal convective squall line that brought heavy rainfall in April 2025, and a multi-day heavy rain event from late February to early March 2021 that produced some of the most significant flooding in 50 to 60 years and cost an estimated $350 to $400 million in damages. Additional flooding occurred in January 2025 due to gulf moisture lifting over a warm front, and in February 2022 from waves of low pressure along an arctic cold front.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that properties in Zone A experienced the highest impacts, accumulating 26 claims with an average payout of $38,414 and an average recorded water depth of 3 inches. Zone X properties recorded 9 claims averaging $19,666 with an average water depth of 4 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED properties had 7 claims averaging $14,491 with an average water depth of 1 inch. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 7 claims averaging $7,083 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and moderate-to-low risk zones should pay the closest attention to these flood patterns.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
21% of Morgan County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
33 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 2021, with 8 claims and $228,056 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.
32 NOAA storm reports from Morgan County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
34 federal disaster declarations since 1978, 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, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 15, 2023 |
| Severe, Storms, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 27, 2021 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
75 since 1996: 41 flash floods and 34 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 31, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 3, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 3, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 29, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Feb 28, 2021 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Feb 28, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Mar 18, 2021 | $30,000 |
| Flood | Mar 1, 2021 | — |
— = 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…
Flash Flood · Apr 3, 2025. On the afternoon of the 2nd a strong surface low was located over the MN/WI area, with a warm front extending southwest through the OH valley, and a trailing cold front extending SSE through the Ozarks. By 00Z (the evening of the 2nd), a strong convective squall line had developed across the Ohio and Mississippi Valley which slowly continued east through the evening. By early morning on the 3rd this strong, noctur…
Flood · Feb 3, 2022. Periods of mostly light to moderate rain spread across eastern Kentucky on February 2nd and February 3rd, as waves of low pressure rode along a slow-moving arctic cold front settling in from the northwest. The strongest and last wave of low pressure lifted across the Appalachians late February 3rd and into February 4th bringing with it a final round of rain, changing over to a wintry mix and eventually snow flurri…
Flash Flood · Jul 29, 2021. A strong low pressure system was present over the Great Lakes region to start the day on July 29th. From this extended a cold front to the southwest. As the low pressure continued eastward throughout the day, the cold front slowly shifted farther southward, before becoming elongated and slowing just north of the Ohio River. This kept much of Kentucky in the warm sector, with a strong push of warm/moist tropical ai…
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 Morgan 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.