1,302 flood insurance claims·$18.3M paid·4 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 Washington 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.
Long-term NOAA storm data indicates that river flooding dominates Washington County, with 171 recorded flood events compared to 33 flash flood events over the last 30 years. These events have resulted in a total of two fatalities across both categories. Recent NOAA narratives illustrate this pattern, noting sustained moderate to heavy rainfall associated with approaching warm fronts and low-pressure systems in February 2025, as well as rounds of rain falling on increasingly saturated soils in May 2025.
FEMA National Flood Insurance Program records show that flood impacts heavily concentrate in specific zones. Zone A accounts for the vast majority of claims with 1,065 filings, averaging a payout of $19,323 and an average recorded water depth of 21 inches. Additional claims are distributed across unshaded Zone X (46 claims averaging $25,435 and 18 inches of water depth), unknown zones (154 claims averaging $4,731 and 8 inches of water depth), Zone X (21 claims averaging $16,182 and 24 inches of water depth), and shaded Zone X (16 claims averaging $16,098 and 26 inches of water depth).
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A, which experiences the heaviest volume of insurance claims, as well as properties situated in shaded and unshaded Zone X areas where average recorded water depths during past floods have exceeded two feet.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
6% of Washington County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
1,127 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 19 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 472 claims and $11.0M 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.
161 NOAA storm reports from Washington County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Ohio flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1968, 4 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.
204 since 1996: 33 flash floods and 171 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Feb 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 15, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 7, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 6, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 4, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Apr 3, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 28, 2024 | — |
— = 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…
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 · Jun 15, 2025. A multi-day period of flooding occurred in southeast Ohio during the middle of the month due to a stalled front across Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, and northern West Virginia while an upper level disturbance pivoted overhead. Showers and storms began to develop in the moist and unstable environment by the night of June 13th. A lull in precipitation occurred on the morning of the 14th, then activity redeveloped and…
Flood · Jun 7, 2025. The start of June remained in an active state across southeast Ohio as a stationary front hovered over Ohio and Pennsylvania starting on the 5th and 6th. The front briefly resumed a southeast march into West Virginia on the 7th before stalling across the area once again. A low pressure system finally pushed the boundary to the north and then sent a cold front through the middle Ohio Valley and central Appalachians…
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 Washington 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.