85 flood insurance claims·$863,328 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 Portage 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 Portage County, with NOAA records detailing 28 flash flood events compared to 8 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent occurrences include slow-moving thunderstorms driven by frontal boundaries and high precipitable water values, such as those on August 3, 2024, August 17, 2024, and July 10, 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data demonstrate that flood impacts extend across multiple zones. Properties in Zone X recorded 28 claims with an average payout of $28,329 and an average water depth of 4 inches, while Zone A properties recorded 23 claims with an average payout of $9,241 and an average water depth of 12 inches. Additional claims occurred in Zone UNKNOWN (19 claims, average 2 inches), Zone X_UNSHADED (14 claims, average 5 inches), and Zone X_SHADED (1 claim, average 4 inches).
Homeowners and real estate agents in Portage County, particularly those in Zone A with deeper average water accumulation and Zone X properties with higher average claim payouts, should pay the closest attention to localized heavy rainfall and storm-driven flash flooding.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
39% of Portage County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
38 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 2013, with 11 claims and $437,514 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.
17 NOAA storm reports from Portage County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
12 federal disaster declarations since 1977.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Hurricane Katrina Evacuation | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 27, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | May 18, 2004 |
| Power Outage | Aug 14, 2003 |
| Tornadoes, Flooding, Severe Storms, And High Winds | Jul 21, 2003 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes & Flooding | Jul 12, 1992 |
| Severe Storms & Tornadoes | May 31, 1985 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
36 since 1996: 28 flash floods and 8 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2025 | $15,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 10, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 17, 2024 | $300,000 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 8, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2024 | $300,000 |
| Flood | Feb 17, 2022 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 12, 2021 | $250,000 |
| Flash Flood | Sep 7, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jul 10, 2025. Thunderstorms developed along a slow moving frontal boundary during the afternoon, as weak low pressure moved northeast across the lower Great Lakes region. During the early afternoon hours, mixed layer CAPE values of 2000 j/kg helped fuel thunderstorm development as effective deep layer shear increased to 20-30 kts. Storms were weakly organized and slow moving, producing isolated damaging wind gusts. High rainfal…
Flash Flood · Aug 17, 2024. At the surface, a low wobbled southeastward from the northwestern Great Lakes to southern Lake Huron during the early evening of the 16th through early evening of the 17th. Simultaneously, the attendant warm front moved northeastward from northern Lake Michigan and central Lake Erie to near the northern shore of Lake Ontario and Upper St. Lawrence River Valley, while the trailing cold front moved eastward from the…
Flash Flood · Aug 8, 2024. A surface trough was oriented south to north across northeast Ohio during the afternoon and early evening of August 8th, 2024, with then Tropical Depression Debby centered over the Carolinas. Strong tropical moisture advection northwestward into the area and modest mixed layer CAPE (1000 j/kg) allowed for thunderstorm development throughout the mid afternoon into the early evening hours, with thunderstorm coverage…
Flash Flood · Aug 3, 2024. A slow moving cold front moved south into far northern Ohio before stalling during the morning hours of August 3rd, 2024, as weak low pressure moved east across the lower Great Lakes. Most of northeast Ohio remained in the warm sector, characterized by 1000 j/kg MLCAPE, precipitable water values near 1.75, slow storm motions due to a lack of deep layer shear. Thunderstorms developed during the morning hours ahead…
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 Portage 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.