32 flood insurance claims·$915,247 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 Washington 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 driven by summer thunderstorms dominates the flood history of Washington County, Kentucky. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database records 21 flash flood events resulting in one death, alongside eight general flood events resulting in an additional death. Recent activity includes a multi-day severe weather pattern from June 15th through June 17th, 2025, when a stationary front and high precipitable water values produced repeated heavy showers and flash flooding. Earlier in the year, on February 15th, 2025, a strong storm system drawing Gulf moisture brought heavy rainfall and widespread flooding to the region.
National Flood Insurance Program records demonstrate that flood risks extend across multiple zones, with significant impacts occurring outside designated high-risk areas. Properties in Zone X recorded 16 claims with an average payout of $22,371 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches, while unshaded Zone X properties saw 10 claims averaging $34,660 with an average water depth of 25 inches. Higher-risk Zone A properties filed 5 claims averaging $65,567 with an average water depth of 6 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in both designated high-risk zones and unshaded Zone X areas, where substantial water depths and claim payouts indicate significant vulnerability to flash floods and heavy storm runoff.
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 13 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 10 claims and $327,058 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.
18 NOAA storm reports from Washington County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
29 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 |
| Remnants Of Hurricane Helene | Sep 27, 2024 |
| 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, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 6, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
29 since 1996: 21 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 15, 2025 | $10,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2020 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2020 | $30,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 29, 2020 | $60,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 17, 2025. Split upper-level flow set up over the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys for several days between June 15th and 17th, 2025. Upper low pressure became cut off, with a surface stationary front meandering back and forth across the lower Ohio Valley. In the vicinity of the surface front, a moist and unstable environment was present, with precipitable water values near 2 inches. Each afternoon, scattered to numerous showers…
Flash Flood · Jun 15, 2025. Split upper-level flow set up over the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys for several days between June 15th and 17th, 2025. Upper low pressure became cut off, with a surface stationary front meandering back and forth across the lower Ohio Valley. In the vicinity of the surface front, a moist and unstable environment was present, with precipitable water values near 2 inches. Each afternoon, scattered to numerous showers…
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 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…
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 Washington 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.