100 flood insurance claims·$1.2M 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 Payne 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 convective storms dominates the flood risk profile in Payne County, OK, accounting for 26 of the 36 total recorded flood events over the last 30 years, alongside 10 standard flood events resulting in 1 death. Severe weather outbreaks frequently drive these hazards, as demonstrated by events in May 2023 and August 2023, as well as a significant severe weather outbreak that produced multiple tornadoes and flash flooding from May 6 to May 7, 2024, followed by another heavy storm event on May 20, 2024.
National Flood Insurance Program records show that claims extend across multiple zones, indicating risk outside traditionally mapped high-risk areas. Zone A accounts for the highest volume with 64 claims averaging $13,614 with an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Meanwhile, unshaded Zone X properties have filed 22 claims averaging $15,903 with an average recorded water depth of 4 inches, and standard Zone X properties recorded 11 claims with an average payout of $28,297 and an average water depth of 1 inch. Shaded Zone X properties recorded 3 claims averaging $12,534 with an average water depth of 0 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties located within Zone A due to the high frequency of claims and deeper average water depths, as well as properties in unshaded Zone X areas where significant claim counts and payouts demonstrate persistent flood exposure during heavy convective rainfall.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
28% of Payne County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
89 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 5 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 1995, with 33 claims and $221,781 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.
9 NOAA storm reports from Payne County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oklahoma flood stories →
39 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 4 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Stillwater 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 Winter Storm | Oct 26, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
36 since 1996: 26 flash floods and 10 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 20, 2024 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 6, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 13, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 13, 2023 | $5,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 25, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 23, 2019 | $10,000 |
| Flood | May 21, 2019 | $10,000 · 1 killed |
| Flood | May 21, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 20, 2024. Significant severe weather occurred across portions of western into central Oklahoma from the late afternoon of the 19th through early morning on the 20th. Aloft, a strong and compact upper wave moved across portions of Kansas during the afternoon. While most severe weather outcomes were expected further north of the WFO Norman area, a few supercell thunderstorms developed along a trailing dryline near the 100th m…
Flash Flood · May 6, 2024. A significant severe weather outbreak, including ten (10) tornadoes, impacted northern and central portions of the WFO Norman Forecast Area during the evening of the 6th into the early morning hours of the 7th. The synoptic pattern across the western half of the Continental United States favored a significant severe weather episode across the region, with a powerful (110-120 knot) upper-level jet streak ejecting a…
Flash Flood · May 13, 2023. Some severe and flood hazard, associated with convection from the 12th, lingered into the early morning hours of the 13th. By the afternoon, a few scattered storms developed in the vicinity of a remnant mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) as it translated across southwest into north-central Oklahoma. This convection produced a few reports of wind damage, large hail, and a brief (weak) tornado across portions of cent…
Flash Flood · Aug 13, 2023. Scattered high-based convection moved from the Texas Panhandle into portions of western Oklahoma during the afternoon of the 13th. Sufficient wind shear and instability combined to yield a mix of semi-organized cells and clusters across the region, resulting in a few reports of large hail with initial activity. By the evening, convection organized into a mesoscale convective system (MCS) and moved across portions…
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 Payne 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.