81 flood insurance claims·$422,372 paid·2 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 Garfield 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 Garfield County, Oklahoma. Over the last 30 years, the NOAA Storm Events Database recorded 40 flash flood events compared to 9 standard flood events. Recent activity includes a significant severe weather outbreak that produced flash flooding on May 6, 2024, followed by another severe weather outbreak causing flash flooding on May 25, 2024, and subsequent urban and stream flooding on November 8, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that high-risk areas experience the most frequent and severe impacts. Zone A accounts for 39 claims with an average payout of $11,119 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, unshaded and shaded Zone X areas combined for 40 claims, with average payouts ranging between $4,394 and $4,400 and average recorded water depths of 1 to 2 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties situated in Zone A, as well as those in Zone X areas where historical claims demonstrate that moderate rainfall can still produce property inundation averaging 1 to 2 inches of recorded water depth.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
44% of Garfield County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
72 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 2 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 1986, with 27 claims and $90,462 paid, the year of Severe Storms & 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.
12 NOAA storm reports from Garfield County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
25 federal disaster declarations since 1973, 2 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Oct 26, 2020 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 7, 2019 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Flooding | Nov 27, 2015 |
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Feb 24, 2013 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 31, 2011 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Jan 28, 2010 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
49 since 1996: 40 flash floods and 9 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Sep 20, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 25, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Nov 8, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Nov 8, 2024 | — |
| Flood | Nov 8, 2024 | $25,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 6, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 7, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 24, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Sep 20, 2025. Widespread daytime and evening thunderstorm activity impacted the WFO Norman Forecast Area on the 20th. This activity was influenced by two factors: 1.) a weak surface low and associated front, and 2.) a remnant mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) across the Red River Valley. Despite relatively weak wind shear across most of the area, slightly stronger daytime instability across the former regime promoted more robus…
Flash Flood · May 25, 2024. A severe weather outbreak impacted portions of western Oklahoma and western-north Texas during the afternoon into evening of the 25th. At upper levels, a high-amplitude trough passed across the Plains during the day, with a focused jet ejection across portions of the Texas Panhandle/Oklahoma. The combination of strong dynamics/kinematics, locally extreme instability (objective analysis depiction >6000 J/kg CAPE) a…
Flash Flood · Nov 8, 2024. A vorticity maxima, embedded within a broader closed upper low along the Great Divide, rotated out across the Southern High Plains on the 8th. Widespread showers and thunderstorms produced locally heavy rainfall across portions of the area that, combined with heavy rains during prior days, led to a few reports of urban and stream flooding across the region.
Flood · Nov 8, 2024. A vorticity maxima, embedded within a broader closed upper low along the Great Divide, rotated out across the Southern High Plains on the 8th. Widespread showers and thunderstorms produced locally heavy rainfall across portions of the area that, combined with heavy rains during prior days, led to a few reports of urban and stream flooding across the region.
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 Garfield 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.