108 flood insurance claims·$1.2M paid·7 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 Monroe 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 severe storms and heavy rainfall dominates the flood risk profile in Monroe County, Ohio, accounting for 48 recorded events and one death alongside 27 general flood events over the last 30 years. This risk is driven by intense weather patterns, such as the event from April 2024 when a slow-moving trough created an area of converging moisture, dropping four to five and a half inches of rain across the region over a four-day span and prompting widespread flash flood problems across the Ohio River Valley.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data demonstrate that property damage occurs across multiple zones, with the highest concentration of claims occurring in high-risk areas. Specifically, Zone A accounts for 70 claims with an average payout of $15,589 and an average recorded water depth of 27 inches. Additional claims are distributed across moderate and minimal risk zones, including 13 claims in Zone X_SHADED averaging a $9,080 payout and 23 inches of water, 12 claims in Zone UNKNOWN averaging $4,755 and 2 inches of water, 11 claims in Zone X averaging $13,773 with zero average recorded water depth, and 2 claims in Zone X_UNSHADED averaging $13,200 with an average water depth of 61 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A, which receives the heaviest concentration of flood claims, as well as structures in shaded and unshaded Zone X areas where significant average water depths and insurance payouts indicate substantial localized flood vulnerability.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
18% of Monroe County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
85 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 25 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 52 claims and $927,271 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.
32 NOAA storm reports from Monroe County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 7 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.
75 since 1996: 48 flash floods and 27 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jan 25, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Apr 3, 2024 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 2, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Jan 3, 2023 | — |
| Flood | May 6, 2022 | $10,000 |
| Flood | Feb 4, 2022 | $1,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Jan 25, 2024. Rainfall of 1 to 1.5 inches on already wet ground created some small-stream and road flooding issues in portions of eastern Ohio.
Flood · Jan 9, 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…
Flood · Apr 3, 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…
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…
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 Monroe 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.