113 flood insurance claims·$974,839 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 Wyoming County, New York. 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 and general flooding events dominate the historical record in Wyoming County, New York, with NOAA data recording 28 flash floods and 12 floods, including 3 flood-related deaths over the last 30 years. Storms are frequently driven by slow-moving fronts, surface heating, and moist airmasses. For example, a slow-moving front and moist airmass dumped heavy rain on July 3, 2023, flooding park roads and hiking trails at Letchworth State Park. Additionally, strong daytime heating and an upper-level trough triggered severe thunderstorms and flash flooding on July 15, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show claims across multiple zones, indicating that flood risk extends beyond designated high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for the highest claim volume with 78 claims averaging a $12,369 payout and an average recorded water depth of 7 inches. Meanwhile, unshaded Zone X properties experienced 17 claims with an average payout of $18,004 and an average water depth of 4 inches, and shaded Zone X properties recorded an average water depth of 10 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within FEMA Zone A, as well as properties in unshaded and shaded Zone X areas where significant-depth flooding and insurance claims have also occurred.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
20% of Wyoming County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
98 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 1998, with 57 claims and $682,110 paid, the year of Severe Storms and Tornadoes and Severe Storms and 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.
35 NOAA storm reports from Wyoming County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the New York flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Nov 18, 2022 |
| Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, And Flooding | Nov 17, 2014 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 27, 2012 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, Tornadoes, And Straight-line Winds | Apr 26, 2011 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | May 13, 2004 |
| Power Outage | Aug 14, 2003 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Jul 21, 2003 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
40 since 1996: 28 flash floods and 12 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 15, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 3, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Jun 29, 2021 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Jul 13, 2017 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 13, 2017 | $30,000 |
| Flood | Jan 13, 2017 | $20,000 |
| Flood | Nov 5, 2017 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 30, 2015 | $100,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 15, 2024. A strong upper-level trough and mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) crossed western and central New York during the afternoon on July 15, 2024. Timing with the MCV corresponded with favorable daytime heating and partly to mostly sunny skies ahead of the system. This resulted in more than 2,000 J/kg of CAPE across much of the region south & southeast of Lake Ontario. Combined with the dynamic nature and the shear ass…
Flash Flood · Jul 3, 2023. A slow moving front and a very moist airmass yielded slow moving thunderstorms that dumped heavy rain over southeast Wyoming county with portions of park roads and hiking trails flooded at Letchworth State Park. The front then stalled out during the evening along the New York and Pennsylvania state line leading to multiple rounds of slow moving thunderstorms crossing the same areas with drenching rains. Significan…
Flood · Jun 29, 2021. Strong surface heating with temperatures in the 90s and dewpoints in the 70s resulted in sufficient destabilization for storms to form, specifically along lake breeze boundaries in the middle to late afternoon. A Heat Advisory was in effect for lower elevations excluding Jefferson County. Surface based instability was strong and precipitable water values were almost 2 inches. Shear was minimal across most of the r…
Flood · Jul 13, 2017. A convective complex moved across Western New York late in the morning. This produced a quick 2 to 4 inches of rain which covered a significant portion of the region and resulted in flash flooding that impacted the Buffalo metro area, the Boston/Wyoming hills and parts of the northern Finger Lakes Region. The flash flooding resulted in numerous road closures, including: Back Creek Road in Boston, Route 6 in Gene…
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 Wyoming 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.