115 flood insurance claims·$1.7M 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 Delaware 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 from heavy rainfall events dominates the flood history of Delaware County. Over the past 30 years, NOAA recorded 34 flash flood events resulting in 1 death, alongside 9 standard flood events.
Severe weather patterns regularly drive these occurrences, as seen in April 2021 when widespread heavy rainfall of four to six inches—with isolated amounts up to eight inches—resulted in flash flooding. Similarly, slow-moving thunderstorms in August 2020 produced locally heavy rainfall of up to four to seven inches in just a few hours, causing localized flash flooding. Other significant events, such as the October 2019 floods, brought five to eight inches of rain as a cold front moved through the area.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners in Special Flood Hazard Areas designated as Zone A face the highest frequency of risk, accounting for 91 claims with an average payout of $17,080 and an average recorded water depth of 8 inches. However, properties outside these high-risk areas also face vulnerability; Zone X properties accounted for 22 claims with an average payout of $24,481 and an average recorded water depth of 11 inches. Homeowners and real estate agents in both designated high-risk zones and moderate-to-low risk zones should pay close attention to these historical water depths when evaluating property risk.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
1% of Delaware County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
92 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 9 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 2019, with 29 claims and $696,032 paid, the year of Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, 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.
10 NOAA storm reports from Delaware County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
33 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 19, 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 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
43 since 1996: 34 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 28, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 14, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Apr 30, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 23, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Oct 6, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Apr 29, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 28, 2015 | — |
| Flood | Dec 27, 2015 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash 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…
Flash Flood · Aug 14, 2020. Slow-moving thunderstorms that moved repeatedly across the same areas resulted in locally heavy rainfall of up to four to seven inches. This excessive rainfall, which fell in just a few hours, resulted in localized flash flooding.
Flash Flood · Apr 30, 2019. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed across eastern Oklahoma during the early afternoon hours of the 30th, to the east of a stationary frontal boundary that was located across north-central Oklahoma into northwest Texas. Moderately strong instability combined with strong wind shear resulted in the development of supercell thunderstorms, which produced multiple tornadoes, including two strong tornadoes, large h…
Flash Flood · Jun 23, 2019. Multiple rounds of thunderstorms moved across eastern Oklahoma from the afternoon of June 22nd through the early morning hours of the 24th, as a cold front approached the area from the west. The strongest storms produced damaging wind and large hail up to quarter size. In addition, widespread two to four inches of rain occurred across the area, with some areas receiving between five and seven inches during that pe…
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 Delaware 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.