273 flood insurance claims·$2.5M paid·5 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 Meigs 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.
Prolonged riverine flooding driven by widespread regional precipitation systems dominates the flood character of Meigs County. According to NOAA Storm Events Database records from the last 30 years, the county experienced 85 flood events resulting in 2 deaths, alongside 33 flash flood events resulting in 1 death. Recent events illustrate this pattern, including a flash flood on February 16, 2025, driven by a warm front and a passing low-pressure system, as well as a flood on February 6, 2025, caused by 1 to 2 inches of rainfall from a low-pressure system crossing the Ohio Valley.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that historical claims span multiple zones with varying impacts. Properties in Zone A experienced 110 claims with an average payout of $12,802 and an average recorded water depth of 15 inches. Zone UNKNOWN recorded 81 claims with an average payout of $3,697 and an average water depth of 2 inches. Zone X accounted for 79 claims averaging $16,834 with an average water depth of 4 inches, while Zone X_SHADED saw 3 claims averaging $4,365 with an average water depth of 1 inch.
Homeowners and real estate agents in high-risk riverine areas, specifically properties located within Zone A, should pay the most attention to flood risk due to the frequency of claims and deeper average water inundation levels.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
3% of Meigs County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
113 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 2004, with 45 claims and $768,681 paid, the year of 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.
91 NOAA storm reports from Meigs County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
18 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Landslides | Feb 5, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Landslides, And Mudslides | Feb 14, 2018 |
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Straight-line Winds | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Apr 4, 2011 |
| 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.
118 since 1996: 33 flash floods and 85 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 13, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 9, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 6, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 6, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 30, 2025. A warm front lifted into the area on the night of May 29th and remained present overhead until being ushered east by a low the evening of the 30th. Behind this system, a cold front approached from the north and slowly descended southward through the Ohio Valley on the 31st.||Rounds of rain moved across the area on the 30th, with some additional showers lingering overnight. Around an inch of rain fell across southe…
Flash Flood · Feb 16, 2025. Light precipitation started to arrive the evening of the 14th, then more substantial rain spread across the area overnight into the 15th as a warm front approached from the south. While precipitation coverage eroded from southeast Ohio and northwest West Virginia during the afternoon, moderate to heavy rain continued to trail across northeast Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and southwest Virginia. This precipit…
Flood · Feb 16, 2025. Light precipitation started to arrive the evening of the 14th, then more substantial rain spread across the area overnight into the 15th as a warm front approached from the south. While precipitation coverage eroded from southeast Ohio and northwest West Virginia during the afternoon, moderate to heavy rain continued to trail across northeast Kentucky, southern West Virginia, and southwest Virginia. This precipit…
Flash Flood · May 13, 2025. Active weather in the form of flash flooding and strong thunderstorms prevailed over southeast Ohio on May 13th as a result of a nearby frontal boundary. The original front stalled across the Ohio Valley on the 11th, then dissolved over the area while a disturbance slowly approached from the southwest for the next several days. This set the stage for heavy downpours and strong thunderstorms amid the hot and humid…
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 Meigs 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.