835 flood insurance claims·$23.4M 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 Comanche 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 risk in Comanche County, with the NOAA Storm Events Database recording 87 flash flood events and 4 deaths compared to 13 general flood events over the last 30 years. Recent activity includes a slow-moving mesoscale convective vortex on April 26, 2025, that produced persistent heavy rainfall and a flood-related fatality in Lawton, as well as multiple rounds of severe convection and flooding from April 29 to April 30, 2025. Additional severe thunderstorms driven by a weak shortwave trough and elevated instability produced flash flooding on May 2, 2025.
NFIP claim records highlight that flood risks extend across multiple FEMA zones. Zone A accounts for the highest volume with 591 claims averaging a $35,076 payout and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Meanwhile, Zone X properties have recorded 143 claims with a higher average water depth of 20 inches and an average payout of $41,140. Additional claims are recorded in unknown zones, shaded Zone X, and unshaded Zone X. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within Zone A and Zone X, where historical claims demonstrate both high frequency and significant average water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
9% of Comanche County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
647 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 2016, with 136 claims and $6.9M paid, the year of Severe 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.
20 NOAA storm reports from Comanche County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
36 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Jun 14, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Oct 26, 2020 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jun 11, 2016 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Flooding | Dec 26, 2015 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | May 5, 2015 |
| Ferguson Fire | Sep 3, 2011 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
100 since 1996: 87 flash floods and 13 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2025 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 29, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 26, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 26, 2025 | $250,000 · 1 killed |
| Flash Flood | May 2, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 2, 2025 | $50,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 30, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Oct 24, 2023 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 30, 2025. Widespread strong-to-severe thunderstorms developed along a quasi-stationary boundary across central and southern Oklahoma and western-north Texas during the evening of the 30th. In addition to a measured severe-caliber wind gust, the combination of high moisture content in the lower atmosphere and slow-moving thunderstorms led to a few localized areas of flash flooding across southern Oklahoma.
Flash Flood · Apr 29, 2025. Multiple rounds of severe convection and flooding occurred from the predawn hours of the 29th into morning hours of the 30th. The most significant round of severe thunderstorm activity occurred across portions of western-north Texas on the evening of the 29th, where intense supercell thunderstorms produced very large hail, damaging wind gusts and a pair of significant (EF-2+) tornadoes. Significant flash flooding…
Flash Flood · Apr 26, 2025. A slow-moving mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) produced severe weather and flash flooding during the morning and afternoon of the 26th. An initial complex of thunderstorms across southwestern Oklahoma and western-north Texas produced reports of thunderstorm wind damage and large hail, especially with a supercell thunderstorm that moved near the city of Lawton. Areas of persistent heavy rainfall also led to flash…
Flash Flood · May 2, 2025. Numerous severe thunderstorms impacted portions of central and southern Oklahoma and western-north Texas early on the morning of the 2nd. Synoptically, this convective episode was driven by the approach of a weak shortwave trough rounding the periphery of a broader upper system across the Central and Northern Plains. Very strong elevated instability and sufficient wind shear promoted organized thunderstorm cluster…
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 Comanche 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.