259 flood insurance claims·$3.0M 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 Creek 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 floods and general floods driven by slow-moving storm systems and repeated heavy rainfall dominate the flood character of Creek County, Oklahoma. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 47 flash flood events and 29 flood events, resulting in one death.
Storm events documented in the narratives illustrate these conditions. In May 2019 and May 2022, strong storm systems and warm fronts produced rounds of thunderstorms across eastern Oklahoma. Specifically, on May 24, 2022, showers and thunderstorms dropped three to six inches of rain across northern Creek County, causing flash flooding as storms moved repeatedly over the same areas.
Property owners in FEMA flood zones should pay close attention to these risks, particularly those in Zone A, which accounts for the vast majority of local National Flood Insurance Program claims. Zone A properties recorded 227 claims with an average payout of $13,159 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Properties located in Zone X, Zone X_UNSHADED, and Zone X_SHADED should also note their risk, as combined claims in these zones recorded average payouts between $12,018 and $13,197, with average recorded water depths ranging from 1 to 9 inches.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
7% of Creek County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
245 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 4 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 2000, with 99 claims and $1.9M 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.
18 NOAA storm reports from Creek County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
47 federal disaster declarations since 1971, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Little Salt Creek Fire | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Underwood Fire | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Wildfires And Straight-line Winds | Mar 14, 2025 |
| Euchee Creek Fire | Oct 29, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, And Tornadoes | Jun 14, 2023 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 7, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
76 since 1996: 47 flash floods and 29 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 5, 2022 | — |
| Flood | May 21, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 20, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2018 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2018 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | Apr 21, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 20, 2017 | $30,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 24, 2022. Showers and thunderstorms produced widespread heavy rainfall across portions of northeastern Oklahoma during the early morning hours of the 24th, as they moved repeatedly across some of the same areas for a number of hours. Three to six inches of rain fell across northern Creek County, where flash flooding occurred.
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 21, 2019. A strong upper level storm system moved into the Southern Plains from the Rockies on the 20th and 21st. The attendant warm front moved from northern Texas northward into northeastern Oklahoma during the day on the 20th, and then the cold front associated with this storm system moved through eastern Oklahoma during the late evening of the 20th and early morning hours of the 21st. Warm, moist, and very unstable air…
Flood · May 21, 2019. A persistently active weather pattern, consisting of a deep trough over the western U. S. and ridging along the Gulf Coast and southeastern U. S., set the stage for numerous rounds of rainfall across the Southern Plains from May 18th through the end of the month. The atmospheric moisture remained unseasonably high during this period, resulting in very efficient rainfall-producing showers and thunderstorms. Anteced…
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 Creek 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.