124 flood insurance claims·$2.4M 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 Warren 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 floods and general floods from storms and heavy rainfall shape the flood character of Warren County. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 55 flash flood events resulting in 1 death, alongside 48 general flood events. Recent severe conditions are exemplified by heavy rainfall systems in February 2025 and convective storm development in June 2025 that brought flooding to the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that properties in Zone A experienced 59 claims with an average payout of $12,579 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Properties in Zone X accounted for 48 claims with an average payout of $41,335 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Additional claims occurred in shaded Zone X (7 claims, average payout of $9,737, average depth of 2 inches), unshaded Zone X (7 claims, average payout of $8,179, average depth of 2 inches), and unknown zones (3 claims, average payout of $2,468, average depth of 2 inches).
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where claims and payout averages reflect the most significant historical flood impacts in the county.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
19% of Warren County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
73 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 26 claims and $579,374 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.
37 NOAA storm reports from Warren County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
26 federal disaster declarations since 1969, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | May 16, 2025 |
| 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, Landslides, And Mudslides | May 21, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Mar 3, 2023 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Dec 10, 2021 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
103 since 1996: 55 flash floods and 48 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 27, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 5, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jan 3, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 28, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 28, 2021 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 4, 2021 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 27, 2025. A typical hot and humid summertime pattern was in place across the Ohio and Tennessee valleys on June 26th and 27th, with temperatures warming into the upper 80s and low 90s both afternoons. This allowed for the development of at least 4000 J/kg SBCAPE across central Kentucky, setting up a strongly unstable environment. Overall, forcing was weak over this time period, with upper level ridging spread out across mos…
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 · Apr 5, 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 · Jan 3, 2023. During the overnight hours and into the morning on January 3rd, a strong system moved across central Kentucky, bringing isolated damaging wind gusts and widespread heavy rainfall. The system was associated with a negatively-tilted upper-level trough which moved from the Four Corners region on January 2nd to the upper Midwest by January 4th. A surface cyclone transited in a similar fashion to the upper trough, with…
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 Warren 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.