373 flood insurance claims·$8.4M 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 Guernsey 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.
Flooding in Guernsey County, Ohio is characterized by a nearly even distribution of standard floods and flash floods, with 45 flood events and 40 flash flood events recorded over the last 30 years. Recent impacts are demonstrated by severe weather on April 2, 2024, when slow-moving troughs and converging moisture brought four to five and a half inches of rain over a four-day span, causing widespread flash flooding across the Ohio River Valley.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that high-risk areas bear the heaviest financial and structural impacts. Properties in Zone A have accounted for 206 claims with an average payout of $33,120 and an average recorded water depth of 15 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X recorded 90 claims averaging $14,728 with an average water depth of 11 inches, and unknown zones recorded 77 claims averaging $16,282 with an average water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within Zone A due to the high frequency and severity of historical claims and water depths in those designated high-risk flood areas.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
Less than 1% of Guernsey County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
206 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 10 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 2004, with 155 claims and $3.0M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Landslides, Severe Storms and Flooding and Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides.
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.
33 NOAA storm reports from Guernsey County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Landslides | Feb 5, 2019 |
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 4, 2011 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
85 since 1996: 40 flash floods and 45 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 10, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 2, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Apr 2, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Apr 1, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 1, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Feb 3, 2022 | $1,000 |
| Flood | Aug 18, 2021 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | Mar 28, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 10, 2024. A strong surface low pressure center was located over the middle Mississippi Valley during the morning of January 9th, and tracked across Ohio and the eastern Great Lakes through the 10th. Wind gusts of up to 55 MPH were recorded in Eastern Ohio. Also, numerous reports of rainfall in the range of 1 to 1.75 inches were received from area rain gauges. This rain created minor flooding issues on Duck Creek, with othe…
Flash Flood · Apr 2, 2024. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms prompted a widespread flash flood problems across the Ohio River Valley on April 2nd to April 3rd. The synoptic pattern across the CONUS was a slow moving and deep elongated trough over the Great Plains phasing with a ejecting trough over the Midwest that created an area of converging moisture over eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Overall, over a span of 4 days, fo…
Flood · Apr 2, 2024. Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms prompted a widespread flash flood problems across the Ohio River Valley on April 2nd to April 3rd. The synoptic pattern across the CONUS was a slow moving and deep elongated trough over the Great Plains phasing with a ejecting trough over the Midwest that created an area of converging moisture over eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Overall, over a span of 4 days, fo…
Flood · Apr 1, 2024. Training showers created isolated flooding in portions of the region early Monday morning (April 1st). Convection originated in the Midwest along a stationary boundary. With zonal flow over Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, due to an elongated trough over the West Coast, convection trained from west to east. CoCoRaHS observers measured 1.50 to 2 inches of rain along I-70.
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 Guernsey 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.