1 flood insurance claims·$3,107 paid·2 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 Wayne 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 severe thunderstorms and frontal systems dominates the flood profile of Wayne County, Kentucky. Over a 30-year period recorded by the NOAA Storm Events Database, the county experienced 22 flash flood events compared to 8 general flood events. Recent documented events include a complex of thunderstorms that produced flash flooding across the Upper Cumberland region on July 14, 2015, and a line of storms that brought flooding rains on May 26, 2016. Additional severe weather triggered by a cold front occurred on May 22, 2024, while prolonged rainfall caused flooding over multiple days ending on February 23, 2019.
Federal flood insurance data reflects limited historical claims in mapped areas, with FEMA records showing a single claim in the unshaded Zone X averaging a $3,107 payout with an average recorded water depth of 0 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties susceptible to rapid runoff and intense seasonal downpours associated with flash floods, as well as structures located outside of high-risk Special Flood Hazard Areas that may still be vulnerable during severe storm events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
3 NOAA storm reports from Wayne County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Kentucky flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 2 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, 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 Winter Storms, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 8, 2021 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
30 since 1996: 22 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 22, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Feb 23, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 26, 2016 | $100 |
| Flood | Dec 25, 2015 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2015 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 20, 2014 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 12, 2013 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Sep 1, 2013 | $1,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 22, 2024. A very strong low pressure system was wrapping up and becoming occluded across the Upper Great Lakes and southern Ontario on the morning of May 22. As the system continued to strengthen and slowly move northeast, a cold front extending southward through much of the conus continued to track eastward towards the Commonwealth. The strong push of warm/unstable air into the region triggered showers and thunderstorms du…
Flood · Feb 23, 2019. Periods of rain worked back into eastern Kentucky early on February 20 as a warm frontal boundary lifted north across the Commonwealth. A cold front brought additional rainfall through the afternoon and evening, before drier conditions worked into eastern Kentucky during the morning of February 21. ||Rain quickly spread back north that evening into the 22nd with southeastern Kentucky continuing to see prolonged li…
Flash Flood · May 26, 2016. A line of thunderstorms moved out of the Midwest and across the Ohio Valley into central and eastern Kentucky through the morning and afternoon hours. This line contained severe wind gusts and flooding rains as it pushed through south central Kentucky, before weakening across southeastern Kentucky.
Flood · Dec 25, 2015. Heavy rain and flooding affected portions of eastern Kentucky on Christmas day 2015. Several locations received between 1.5 and 2.75 inches of rain during this event.
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 Wayne 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.