48 flood insurance claims·$1.9M paid·3 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 Nicholas 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 general flooding from summer thunderstorms dominate Nicholas County, with NOAA records detailing 40 flood events and 26 flash flood events over the last 30 years, resulting in two fatalities.
Recent history underscores this hazard. In July 2021, severe thunderstorms dropped heavy, repeated rainfall over Carlisle, destroying several buildings and vehicles and causing a fatality. Another heavy rainfall event occurred in July 2023, when thunderstorms dropping over five inches of rain clipped the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims spanning multiple zones. Zone A recorded 23 claims with an average payout of $66,218 and an average recorded water depth of 9 inches. Unshaded Zone X recorded 17 claims averaging $17,948 with an average water depth of 3 inches, while Zone X recorded 2 claims averaging $75,825 with an average water depth of 1 inch. Zone unknown recorded 6 claims averaging $4,352 with an average water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas mapped as Zone A, as well as property owners in unshaded Zone X experiencing surface water risks, should pay the closest attention to these flood hazards.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
42% of Nicholas County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
40 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 6 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 6 claims and $1.3M 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.
24 NOAA storm reports from Nicholas County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
32 federal disaster declarations since 1989, 3 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, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 8, 2021 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
66 since 1996: 26 flash floods and 40 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 27, 2023 | — · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jul 30, 2021 | $1.0M · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jul 29, 2021 | $1.0M |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 19, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Feb 20, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 7, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 27, 2023. Northwest flow in the mid- and upper-levels of the atmosphere placed central Kentucky and southern Indiana on the edge of a ring of fire type pattern for several days at the end of July 2023. While most of the waves of convection remained to the north of the area thanks to building ridging aloft July 27th into the 28th, thunderstorms on July 27th clipped the Kentucky Bluegrass region. The primary impact from these…
Flash Flood · Jul 30, 2021. Scattered thunderstorms, ahead of a could front, drifted south through southern Indiana and the Bluegrass region of Kentucky in an unstable environment. Some of these storms became severe causing isolated tree damage and flash flooding in Kentucky counties. The most severe flooding was in Carlisle, Kentucky after heavy rainfall continued falling over the same area. Several buildings and vehicles were destroyed, an…
Flash Flood · Jul 29, 2021. Scattered thunderstorms, ahead of a could front, drifted south through southern Indiana and the Bluegrass region of Kentucky in an unstable environment. Some of these storms became severe causing isolated tree damage and flash flooding in Kentucky counties. The most severe flooding was in Carlisle, Kentucky after heavy rainfall continued falling over the same area. Several buildings and vehicles were destroyed, an…
Flash Flood · Aug 16, 2021. On the 14th, a cold front worked its way south through central Kentucky to Tennessee, but by the 16th, the slow moving front was on its way back north as a warm front. Even though the threat of severe weather was low, the moist environment produced isolated flash flooding in two central Kentucky 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 Nicholas 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.