2,049 flood insurance claims·$37.7M 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 Hancock 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.
Standard river flooding and flash flooding from slow-moving storms dominate Hancock County, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 30 floods and 22 flash floods over the last 30 years. Recent significant events include a flash flood on May 15, 2025, driven by slow-moving thunderstorms with high rainfall rates, and a widespread flood event on May 9 and 10, 2021, associated with a low-pressure system that dropped 2 to 3 inches of rain.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage is heavily concentrated in Zone A, which accounts for 1,659 claims with an average payout of $23,183 and an average recorded water depth of 17 inches. Additional claims have occurred in Zone X (109 claims, averaging $19,993 and 10 inches of water), Zone X shaded (37 claims, averaging $21,324 and 19 inches of water), Zone X unshaded (10 claims, averaging $15,479 and 21 inches of water), and unknown zones (234 claims, averaging $8,788 and 4 inches of water). Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, where the vast majority of historical flood claims and significant water depths are recorded.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
3% of Hancock County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,706 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 16 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 2007, with 910 claims and $26.4M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes.
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.
24 NOAA storm reports from Hancock County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
14 federal disaster declarations since 1965.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Tornadoes | Mar 14, 2024 |
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Tornadoes | Aug 20, 2007 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Dec 22, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 27, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Tornadoes | Nov 10, 2002 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
52 since 1996: 22 flash floods and 30 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 15, 2025 | $1.2M |
| Flood | May 10, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 9, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 9, 2021 | $10,000 |
| Flood | May 19, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Apr 26, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Jan 24, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 2, 2019 | $60,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 15, 2025. A broad, negatively-tilted mid level trough was slowly moving east across the lower Great Lakes during the overnight into early morning hours of May 15, 2025. Slow moving showers and thunderstorms associated with a weak surface trough across northwest Ohio and northeast Indiana, and broad isentropic ascent from an approaching warm front from the southwest, moved across Hancock County with seasonally high rainfall…
Flood · May 10, 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…
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…
Flood · May 19, 2020. A slow moving upper low over Illinois combined with a conveyor belt of humid air over Ohio supported widespread showers and thunderstorms over southern and central Ohio on the afternoon and evening of the 18th. The weather conditions supported not severe weather but heavy rain. Rain rates of 2 inches an hour or higher were observed with storms that trained, or repeated over the same areas. Overnight the low sank…
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 Hancock 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.