512 flood insurance claims·$6.0M 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 Erie County, Pennsylvania. 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 summer thunderstorms dominates the flood character of Erie County, accounting for 60 of the 82 total flood events recorded over the last 30 years alongside 16 general floods, 4 lakeshore floods, and 2 storm surge events. Weather patterns drive these localized hazards, such as slow-moving and back-building storms along a lake breeze front that produced a flash flood on June 18, 2025. Additionally, lake effect rain bands caused minor areal flooding and road closures in the western portion of the county on September 27, 2022, while high lake levels and above-average precipitation set record-high monthly mean water levels on Lake Erie in March 2020.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that property owners across multiple zones face financial risk. Zone A recorded the highest claim count with 249 claims averaging $13,199 and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Properties outside traditionally mapped high-risk areas also sustain damage, including 89 claims in unshaded Zone X averaging $22,164 with an average depth of 3 inches, 76 claims in Zone X averaging $25,379 with an average depth of 8 inches, and 18 claims in shaded Zone X averaging $21,551 with an average depth of 8 inches. Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties in Zone A due to high claim frequency, as well as properties in various Zone X designations where average payouts and recorded water depths are substantial.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
29% of Erie County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
367 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 1985, with 88 claims and $611,006 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.
37 NOAA storm reports from Erie County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Pennsylvania flood stories →
11 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Hurricane Katrina | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Tropical Depression Ivan | Sep 17, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Frances | Sep 8, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Jan 19, 1996 |
| Severe Snowfall & Winter Storm | Mar 13, 1993 |
| Severe Storms, High Winds & Tornadoes | May 31, 1985 |
| Snowstorms | Jan 29, 1977 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
82 since 1996: 60 flash floods, 16 river or area floods and 6 coastal floods or surges.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 18, 2025 | $150,000 |
| Flood | Sep 27, 2022 | $30,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 21, 2022 | $500,000 |
| Lakeshore Flood | Feb 27, 2020 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Nov 15, 2020 | $50,000 |
| Lakeshore Flood | Apr 13, 2020 | $350,000 |
| Flood | Mar 1, 2020 | $5.0M |
| Flood | Feb 1, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 18, 2025. A slow-moving cold front was draped west to east across the southern Great Lakes during the day of June 18th, 2025, with low pressure near Chicago drifting east toward southern Ontario. An upper-level shortwave trough moving eastward across the southern Great Lakes during the afternoon brought scattered showers and thunderstorms to portions of northwest Pennsylvania, with slow-moving and back-building storms along…
Flood · Sep 27, 2022. Lake effect rain impacted Erie County beginning early in the morning of September 25th as a seasonally cold airmass moved southeast across the Great Lakes region. Lake effect rain continued on and off through the 25th and 26th before a more concentrated rain band focused on the western portion of Erie County during the morning and midday hours of September 27th. This additional rain resulted in minor areal floodin…
Flash Flood · May 21, 2022. On the morning of the 21st, a cold front extended southwestward from southern ON to far-northwestern OH. This front drifted southeastward through the early evening, when it became located in vicinity of the major axis of Lake Erie, west-central OH, and east-central IN. The front then moved little through the wee hours of the 22nd. A line of thunderstorms moved generally eastward across northwest PA during the earl…
Lakeshore Flood · Feb 27, 2020. Low pressure over the Ohio Valley on the evening of the 26th moved northeast across the central Appalachians, bringing some system snowfall to the region on the night of the 26th into the 27th. As low pressure departed the eastern Great Lakes region on the 27th, wrap-around cold air allowed for lake effect snow to develop over the mostly ice-free waters of the Great Lakes. Multi-banded lake effect snow from Lakes…
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 Erie 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.