58 flood insurance claims·$761,659 paid
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 Ashland County, Ohio. 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 risk profile in Ashland County, Ohio, accounting for the majority of recorded flood events over the last 30 years with 38 flash flood events compared to 15 general flood events.
Recent weather patterns illustrate this hazard. On August 23, 2023, flash flooding occurred driven by an anomalously warm and moist air mass over the Midwest, which produced tropical-like precipitable water values exceeding 2.0 inches, extreme instability, and organized storms on the eastern edge of a heat dome. General flooding similarly impacted the area on August 24, 2023, under the same persistent atmospheric conditions.
NFIP claims data demonstrates that property owners in high-risk Zone A face the heaviest frequency of loss, recording 45 claims with an average payout of $15,506 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Meanwhile, residents in Zone X should also pay attention, having recorded 11 claims with an average payout of $23,419 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
2% of Ashland County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
46 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 9 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 2011, with 15 claims and $171,229 paid.
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.
23 NOAA storm reports from Ashland County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
12 federal disaster declarations since 1969.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Wind Storm Associated With Tropical Depression Ike | Sep 14, 2008 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Dec 22, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 27, 2004 |
| Power Outage | Aug 14, 2003 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Nov 10, 2002 |
| Blizzards & Snowstorms | Jan 26, 1978 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
53 since 1996: 38 flash floods and 15 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Aug 24, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 23, 2023 | $400,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 23, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 16, 2021 | $100,000 |
| Flood | May 9, 2021 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 21, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2019 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 17, 2019 | $120,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Aug 24, 2023. An anomalously-warm and moist air mass was in place across much of the Central Plains and Midwest, resulting in strong to perhaps extreme instability in addition to tropical-like precipitable water values exceeding 2.0 inches. The Lower Great Lakes region, specifically northern Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania found itself on the eastern edge of this heat dome. Strong northwest flow aloft persisted along the periph…
Flash Flood · Aug 23, 2023. An anomalously-warm and moist air mass was in place across much of the Central Plains and Midwest, resulting in strong to perhaps extreme instability in addition to tropical-like precipitable water values exceeding 2.0 inches. The Lower Great Lakes region, specifically northern Ohio and Northwest Pennsylvania found itself on the eastern edge of this heat dome. Strong northwest flow aloft persisted along the periph…
Flash Flood · Jul 16, 2021. A cold front moved southeastward from Lower Michigan to Lake Erie during the evening and overnight of the 15th and then stalled in vicinity of the southern lakeshore by daybreak. This was in response to one surface low moving northeastward from southwestern Quebec toward the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, while another low moved along the front from eastern Iowa to near the Michigan/Indiana border. Ahead of th…
Flood · May 9, 2021. A surface area of low pressure tracked from the high plains crossing northern Ohio on Sunday May 9th. Widespread light to moderate rain developed Sunday morning and was ongoing through much of the day. Temperatures were in the upper 30s to low 40s, and some snowflakes mixed in midday. As the system moved east, rain turned to snow in the primary snowbelt with reports up to 2��� in northwest Pennsylvania and G…
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 Ashland 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.