352 flood insurance claims·$5.8M paid·12 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 Oxford County, Maine. 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.
Oxford County experiences a flood risk profile dominated by river flooding and flash floods, with 103 flood events and 92 flash flood events recorded over the last 30 years alongside 4 tropical storm events. Recent historical impacts include events in April 2024, where a cold front brought soaking rainfall that combined with significant snowpack loss and saturated grounds to produce minor to moderate river flooding and isolated mountain flash floods. Additional flash flooding occurred in July 2024 when the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl phased with a low pressure system, bringing heavy rainfall to ground already saturated by previous precipitation.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties in Zone A carry the heaviest burden, accounting for 233 claims with an average payout of $25,142 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Residents with properties in Zone UNKNOWN experienced 70 claims averaging $11,090 with an average water depth of 4 inches, while properties in Zone X recorded 23 claims with an average payout of $21,896 and an average water depth of 5 inches. Zone X_SHADED recorded 19 claims averaging $18,092 with an average water depth of 12 inches, and Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 7 claims averaging $10,636 with an average water depth of 5 inches. Property owners in Zone A and Zone X_SHADED should pay the closest attention given their claim volumes and water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
10% of Oxford County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
259 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 1987, with 117 claims and $2.0M paid, the year of Severe Storms & Flooding.
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.
121 NOAA storm reports from Oxford County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Maine flood stories →
73 federal disaster declarations since 1970, 12 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Dec 17, 2023 |
| Hurricane Lee | Sep 15, 2023 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Jun 26, 2023 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Apr 30, 2023 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Dec 23, 2022 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | Oct 29, 2017 |
| Tropical Storm Irene | Aug 27, 2011 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Landslides | Jun 18, 2009 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
199 since 1996: 92 flash floods and 103 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Apr 13, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Apr 12, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jun 26, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2023 | $528,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 26, 2023 | $2.6M |
| Flash Flood | Jul 24, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Dec 19, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Apr 13, 2024. A cold front brought widespread soaking rainfall to the area. This rainfall combined with significant snowpack loss and saturated grounds to produce minor to moderate river flooding, with isolated flash flooding across the mountains. Repeated rounds of rain compressed, warmed, and ripened the area snowpack in advance of the heavier rain on Friday the 12th. The combination of rain, strong winds, and high dew point…
Flood · Apr 12, 2024. A cold front brought widespread soaking rainfall to the area. This rainfall combined with significant snowpack loss and saturated grounds to produce minor to moderate river flooding, with isolated flash flooding across the mountains. Repeated rounds of rain compressed, warmed, and ripened the area snowpack in advance of the heavier rain on Friday the 12th. The combination of rain, strong winds, and high dew point…
Flash Flood · Jul 10, 2024. On July 10th the remnants of Tropical Storm Beryl phased with a low pressure system out of the Great Lakes to bring multiple rounds of heavy rainfall to northern New England, including Maine and New Hampshire. The previous 3 days had brought a swatch of heavy rain just north of the White Mountains, saturating the ground and making it ideal for runoff. During the roughly 36 hour period, 3 to as much as 5 inches of…
Flood · Jun 26, 2023. Slow moving showers and thunderstorms associated with a broad area of low pressure moved across western Maine through the night of June 25th and into the morning of June 26th. Showers and thunderstorms repeatedly developed over the hills and mountains surrounding Andover and Byron in Oxford County, The extreme rainfall rates in hilly and mountainous terrain led to rapid run-off on multiple streams in the region. M…
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 Oxford 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.