10 flood insurance claims·$93,778 paid·5 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 Wasco County, Oregon. 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.
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 1996, with 4 claims and $54,260 paid, the year of High Winds, Severe Storms 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.
2 NOAA storm reports from Wasco County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Oregon flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1964, 5 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Rowena Fire | Jun 11, 2025 |
| Larch Creek Fire | Jul 10, 2024 |
| Wildfires | Jul 10, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 10, 2024 |
| Miller Road Fire | Aug 2, 2022 |
| Wildfires And Straight-line Winds | Sep 7, 2020 |
| White River Fire | Aug 17, 2020 |
| Mosier Creek Fire | Aug 12, 2020 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
3 since 1996: 1 flash floods and 2 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | May 30, 2020 | — |
| Flood | Aug 9, 2019 | — |
| Flood | Jan 1, 2006 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · May 30, 2020. A major severe weather event by Pacific Northwest standards occurred over central and northeast Oregon and southeast Washington on May 30th. A powerful upper level storm system moved across the area during the afternoon and evening helping to trigger severe thunderstorms. The airmass was unusually unstable for this area of the country with surface dewpoints well into the 60s. With strong upper level winds in place…
Flood · Aug 9, 2019. A powerful upper storm system combined with modest low and mid level moisture to yield scattered strong to severe storms and flash flooding. Storms developed first across the higher terrain of central Oregon nearer the Cascades and adjacent Ochoco mountains. Storms then built northward with hail and damaging winds along the way.
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 Wasco 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.