106 flood insurance claims·$1.9M paid·3 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 Cherokee County, Oklahoma. 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 driven by severe thunderstorms dominates the flood profile of Cherokee County, Oklahoma. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 71 flash flood events resulting in five deaths, alongside 59 general flood events. Heavy rainfall systems frequently produce significant flooding across the area, such as the severe storm and heavy rainfall events documented in April 2021, May 2022, and April 2024. These spring systems often drop widespread rainfall totals of four to six inches, with isolated amounts reaching eight inches, triggering rapid water accumulation.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property damage is heavily concentrated in designated high-risk areas. Zone A properties account for the majority of claims with 82 filings, an average payout of $20,676, and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches. Zone X properties have also experienced losses, recording 20 claims with an average payout of $26,878 and an average recorded water depth of 10 inches. Shaded and unshaded Zone X areas recorded minimal claims with lower average payouts and depths of two inches or less.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A, where historical claims and average water depths are significantly higher.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
5% of Cherokee County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
86 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 12 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 2015, with 21 claims and $696,128 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, and Flooding and Severe Winter Storms and Flooding.
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.
50 NOAA storm reports from Cherokee County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
28 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 2, 2022 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 7, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 16, 2017 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 28, 2017 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Flooding | Dec 26, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 5, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
130 since 1996: 71 flash floods and 59 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 28, 2024 | — |
| Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 4, 2022 | — |
| Flood | Apr 28, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 27, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Mar 19, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 15, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 28, 2024. Severe thunderstorms developed during the afternoon of the 27th over central Oklahoma, along and ahead of the dry line, as a strong upper level low pressure system deepened into the Southern Rockies. Strong instability and strong wind shear over eastern Oklahoma supported organized severe thunderstorms, including supercells. The first round of storms affected portions of far northeastern Oklahoma during the early…
Flood · May 5, 2022. A strong storm system slowly moved from the central Rockies into the Southern and Central Plains on the 4th and 5th. The associated surface frontal boundary located over northern Texas early on the 4th moved north into central Oklahoma as a warm front by the late afternoon, and then near the Kansas border on the 5th ahead of a cold front. The first round of thunderstorms developed over eastern Oklahoma during the…
Flood · May 4, 2022. A strong storm system slowly moved from the central Rockies into the Southern and Central Plains on the 4th and 5th. The associated surface frontal boundary located over northern Texas early on the 4th moved north into central Oklahoma as a warm front by the late afternoon, and then near the Kansas border on the 5th ahead of a cold front. The first round of thunderstorms developed over eastern Oklahoma during the…
Flood · Apr 28, 2021. Strong to severe thunderstorms moved through eastern Oklahoma during the morning of the 28th. These storms produced locally heavy rainfall that resulted in flash flooding, damaging wind gusts, and three tornadoes. Another round of thunderstorms developed across eastern Oklahoma during the evening of the 28th, as a cold front moved into the area. The strongest storms produced damaging wind.||Widespread heavy rainfa…
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 Cherokee 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.