188 flood insurance claims·$1.0M paid·8 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 Franklin 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 profile of Franklin County, supported by NOAA records detailing 44 flash flood events, 16 general flood events, and 1 tropical storm over the last 30 years. Recent events illustrate this pattern, including sporadic flooding that extended into Franklin County from a deep moisture stream on May 13, 2025, and heavy rainfall from a low pressure system on January 9, 2024, that produced widespread precipitation across the Cumberland and Susquehanna valleys.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that risk extends across multiple zones. Properties in Zone A account for the highest claim volume with 96 claims, an average payout of $10,482, and an average recorded water depth of 6 inches. Zone X accounts for 45 claims with an average payout of $7,756 and an average recorded water depth of 4 inches. Shaded Zone X properties recorded 7 claims averaging $14,664 with an average water depth of 6 inches, while unshaded Zone X properties recorded 10 claims averaging $3,779 with an average water depth of 33 inches.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the most attention to properties located within Zone A and Zone X, where historical claims demonstrate consistent financial loss and standing water during heavy precipitation events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
15% of Franklin County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
113 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 6 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 44 claims and $164,005 paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding and Flooding, Severe Storms.
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.
6 NOAA storm reports from Franklin County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Pennsylvania flood stories →
20 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Severe Winter Storm And Snowstorm | Jan 22, 2016 |
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Remnants Of Tropical Storm Lee | Sep 3, 2011 |
| Severe Winter Storms And Snowstorms | Feb 5, 2010 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Jun 23, 2006 |
| Hurricane Katrina | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Tropical Depression Ivan | Sep 17, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Frances | Sep 8, 2004 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
61 since 1996: 44 flash floods and 16 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 14, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 13, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jan 9, 2024 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | May 19, 2019 | $10,000 |
| Flash Flood | Jul 28, 2017 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 8, 2015 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Aug 16, 2025. Diurnally driven showers and thunderstorms from the late evening hours of August 15, 2025 continued into the early morning hours of August 16th across eastern Pennsylvania. A non-severe thunderstorm drifted northward into Schuylkill County, producing efficient rainfall in a favorable moist environment, with gauge reports indicating between 3 and 6 inches of rainfall in a two-to-three hour timeframe. Flash flooding…
Flash Flood · Jul 14, 2025. A fairly moist and unstable environment ahead of a shortwave trough allowed for showers and thunderstorms to begin forming across central Pennsylvania during the morning hours of July 14, 2025. Showers and thunderstorms became more numerous into the early afternoon hours, pushing eastward through the evening hours. Saturated soils across eastern Pennsylvania from recent flooding allowed for numerous instances of f…
Flood · May 13, 2025. A deep stream of moisture was pulled northwestward from the Atlantic Ocean into the mountains of south-central Pennsylvania around an upper level low centered over the Ohio Valley during the afternoon and evening hours of May 13. 2025. This led to extensive flooding and flash flooding across Somerset County and southwestern Bedford County, and more sporadic flooding from the remainder of Bedford County eastward in…
Flood · Jan 9, 2024. Warm advection ahead of low pressure pushing up the Ohio Valley produced a 4 to 6 hour period of moderate to heavy snow across the southern Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania during the morning of January 9, 2024. As much as 12 inches of snowfall was observed atop the Allegheny Front in eastern Somerset and eastern Cambria counties, with localized snowfall rates of 2-3 inches per hour. This system also produced 1…
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 Franklin 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.