456 flood insurance claims·$8.3M 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 Stark 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 Stark County, accounting for 49 of the 74 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 25 general flood events. This weather pattern was demonstrated on August 3rd, 2024, when a slow-moving cold front and weak low pressure produced training thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. A similar convective setup occurred on June 30th, 2021, when a warm, tropical airmass combined with a drifting cold front and thunderstorm outflow boundaries to drop heavy rain.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that flood impacts affect properties across multiple zones. Zone A leads with 270 claims averaging a $29,890 payout with an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. Zone X accounts for 54 claims averaging a $15,697 payout and an average water depth of 10 inches, while Zone X_UNSHADED recorded 38 claims with an average payout of $10,747 and an average water depth of 17 inches. Zone X_SHADED saw 13 claims with an average payout of $57,720 and an average water depth of 9 inches, and Zone UNKNOWN had 81 claims averaging a $3,380 payout with an average water depth of 3 inches.
Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and shaded or unshaded Zone X areas should pay the most attention to these flood risks, as they represent the highest claim frequencies and highest average water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
16% of Stark County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
321 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 8 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 2011, with 87 claims and $2.9M 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.
28 NOAA storm reports from Stark County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
12 federal disaster declarations since 1969.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms | Jun 29, 2012 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight Line Winds, And Flooding | Jun 21, 2006 |
| 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 Flooding | May 18, 2004 |
| Tornadoes, Flooding, Severe Storms, And High Winds | Jul 21, 2003 |
| Blizzards & Snowstorms | Jan 26, 1978 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
74 since 1996: 49 flash floods and 25 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 3, 2024 | $15,000 |
| Flood | Feb 17, 2022 | $775,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 14, 2022 | $750,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2021 | $500,000 |
| Flood | May 9, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 5, 2020 | $2,000 |
| Flood | Jun 4, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Jun 17, 2019 | $1.2M |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Flood · Feb 17, 2022. A southeastward-moving surface cold front across southern Lower MI and northern IN approached northwest OH during the early morning of the 17th. The surface pressure gradient tightened in northwest OH as the cold frontal surface trough interacted with a surface ridge axis that remained anchored near the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia. This tightening surface pressure gradient and apparently relatively-deep mec…
Flash Flood · May 14, 2022. Northern Ohio resided in the warm sector as a surface trough axis moved generally eastward through the region during the afternoon and early evening of the 14th. Low-level convergence and ascent along the trough axis acted as a focus for the development of isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms. This convection occurred in an environment comprised of weak to moderate MUCAPE and DCAPE, respectively, and we…
Flash Flood · Jun 30, 2021. A large area of high pressure centered over the southeast CONUS allowed for a warm, tropical airmass to advect northward into northern OH. Surface dewpoints in the low 70s and PWAT's near 2 provided a thermodynamically favorable environment for heavy rainfall. A west to east oriented cold front slowly drifted south through the Great Lakes towards the local area which, in concert with several residual outflow bound…
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 Stark 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.