3,366 flood insurance claims·$63.3M paid·8 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 Baltimore County, Maryland. 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 from summer thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Baltimore County, Maryland, supported by hundreds of recorded incidents alongside riverine flooding, coastal events, and tropical systems. Recent hazards are exemplified by slow-moving cold fronts, tropical moisture, and unstable atmospheres that produced training thunderstorms in July 2025, dropping average rainfall totals of two to four inches with localized amounts up to six inches.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that high-risk Zone A properties have experienced the heaviest claim volume with 2,179 filings averaging $29,384 in payouts and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Properties categorized under Zone X also face significant exposure, accounting for 374 claims with an average payout of $16,206 and an average recorded water depth of 14 inches, while shaded Zone X properties averaged 9 inches of water across 230 claims with average payouts of $27,139. Unshaded Zone X properties recorded 185 claims averaging $21,470 with an average water depth of 7 inches, and unknown zones recorded 391 claims averaging $10,773 with an average water depth of 3 inches. Coastal flood and storm surge events, though fewer in number, add to the overall hazard mix alongside tropical storms.
Property owners in high-risk Zone A and all variations of Zone X should pay the closest attention to local flood risks, as both designated high-risk and moderate-to-low-risk areas have sustained substantial historical claim activity and property water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
16% of Baltimore County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
2,601 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 2003, with 1,536 claims and $44.1M paid, the year of Snow and Hurricane Isabel.
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.
106 NOAA storm reports from Baltimore County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Maryland flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1971, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 23, 2026 |
| Severe Storm And Flooding | May 27, 2018 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Jan 22, 2016 |
| Snowstorm | Feb 12, 2014 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Remnants Of Tropical Storm Lee | Sep 6, 2011 |
| Hurricane Irene | Aug 26, 2011 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms | Feb 5, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
513 since 1996: 314 flash floods, 174 river or area floods and 20 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 31, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 14, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 13, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2025 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 31, 2025. A slow moving cold front combined with a highly unstable atmosphere along with tropical moisture to produce slow moving thunderstorms with heavy rainfall. Some of these storms trained over the same areas, resulting in scattered to numerous instances of flash flooding. Total rainfall amounts in areas with flash flooding averaged two to four inches, though some localized amounts up to six inches were observed.
Flood · May 30, 2025. Showers and thunderstorms developed along a slow moving cold front and produced a quick one to locally three inches of rain in a short period of time.
Flash Flood · Jun 30, 2025. A boundary stalled across northeast Maryland and interacted with the Chesapeake Bay breeze to result in a nearly stationary thunderstorm across Baltimore and Harford counties for much of the late afternoon and evening. Localized rainfall amounts of two to six inches were observed, with instances of flash flooding.
Flood · Jun 30, 2025. A boundary stalled across northeast Maryland and interacted with the Chesapeake Bay breeze to result in a nearly stationary thunderstorm across Baltimore and Harford counties for much of the late afternoon and evening. Localized rainfall amounts of two to six inches were observed, with instances of flash flooding.
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 Baltimore 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.