96 flood insurance claims·$1.2M paid·7 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 Osage 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 severe thunderstorms dominates the flood risk profile in Osage County, Oklahoma, accounting for the vast majority of the 84 recorded flood events over the last 30 years, which include 69 flash floods and 15 general floods. Severe weather events, such as the persistent thunderstorms driven by a frontal boundary and Gulf moisture that dropped 4 to 8 inches of rain (with locally up to 10 inches) in March 2021, frequently produce heavy rainfall rates and localized inundation. Similar heavy rainfall patterns occurred during severe storms in April 2025 and May 2021, when repeated thunderstorm activity resulted in flash flooding.
National Flood Insurance Program claims data indicates that properties within high-risk Zone A face the most frequent exposure, generating 78 claims with an average payout of $11,947 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X have recorded fewer total claims (16), but experienced higher severity with an average payout of $38,061 and an average recorded water depth of 2 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where historical claims demonstrate consistent financial and physical flood impacts from heavy precipitation.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
1% of Osage County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
79 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 16 claims and $226,042 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.
23 NOAA storm reports from Osage County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
42 federal disaster declarations since 1971, 7 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Rattlesnake Fire | Feb 19, 2026 |
| North Road Fire | Oct 29, 2024 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | Apr 25, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storm | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Severe Winter Storms | Feb 8, 2021 |
| Flooding | May 7, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, And Flooding | May 7, 2019 |
| Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, And Flooding | Apr 30, 2019 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
84 since 1996: 69 flash floods and 15 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Apr 29, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 27, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Mar 13, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 23, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 22, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 22, 2019 | — |
| Flood | May 21, 2019 | $150,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2019 | $100,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Apr 29, 2025. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed into portions of eastern Oklahoma during the morning hours of the 29th, along and ahead of a cold front moving into the area. Weak instability and strong wind shear combined to allow the storms to become organized, with the strongest producing several tornadoes, large hail up to golf ball size, and damaging wind gusts.
Flash Flood · May 27, 2021. Severe thunderstorms developed across eastern Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 27th, near an outflow boundary from previous storms, and ahead of a cold front. These storms eventually organized into a line and moved through southeastern Oklahoma during the evening. A tornado, large hail up to baseball size, and damaging wind occurred as the storms moved through the area. Some of the thunderstorms moved repeated…
Flood · Mar 13, 2021. The presence of a frontal boundary, a persistent flow of unseasonably moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, and the slow approach of an upper level system to the Southern Plains, resulted in multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms across northeastern Oklahoma from the 12th through the 17th. Four to eight inches of rain fell along and north of a line from Pawhuska to Grove during the period, with up to ten inches…
Flood · May 23, 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 Osage 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.