1,005 flood insurance claims·$15.4M 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 Lebanon 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 risk profile in Lebanon County, PA, accounting for 43 events alongside 34 general floods and 2 related deaths over the last 30 years. Recent impacts include severe weather driven by slow-moving warm fronts and moist, unstable environments, resulting in multiple clusters of thunderstorms that produced flash flooding in June 2025 and July 2025.
National Flood Insurance Program records indicate that flood claims are distributed across multiple zones, with high-risk areas and moderate-to-low risk zones both experiencing significant water accumulation. Properties located in Zone A account for the highest claim volume at 445 claims, with an average recorded water depth of 15 inches and an average payout of $29,817. Meanwhile, properties in Zone X_SHADED recorded an average water depth of 7 inches with an average payout of $36,929, and Zone X_UNSHADED properties averaged a 22-inch water depth with an average payout of $18,585.
Homeowners, real estate agents, and journalists should pay the closest attention to properties situated within Zone A, as well as those in shaded and unshaded Zone X designations that have historically experienced significant interior water depths and structural payouts during heavy rainfall events.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
18% of Lebanon County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
543 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 12 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 1979, with 317 claims and $702,475 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.
6 NOAA storm reports from Lebanon County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Pennsylvania flood stories →
19 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 7 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 |
| 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 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
78 since 1996: 43 flash floods and 34 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood | Jun 30, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 1, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jul 1, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Dec 18, 2023 | — |
| Flood | Sep 1, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Sep 1, 2021 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 19, 2019 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jul 11, 2019 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flash Flood · Jun 30, 2025. A slow-moving warm front in an extremely moist (PWAT values exceeding 2.00, values closer to 2.25 across the Lower Susquehanna Valley) and unstable environment allowed for multiple clusters of thunderstorms to begin to form during the late morning hours and continue through the late evening hours of June 30, 2025. A shortwave trough stationed across the region allowed for enhanced lift, with relatively weak shear…
Flash Flood · Jul 1, 2025. A cold front stationed across west-central Pennsylvania began traversing eastward across the area during the afternoon hours of July 1, 2025. Ample instability and moisture ahead of the frontal passage allowed for showers and thunderstorms to develop, with thunderstorms producing rainfall rates well over an inch an hour. Shear across western and central Pennsylvania remained relatively low, keeping the severe pote…
Flood · Jul 1, 2025. A slow-moving warm front in an extremely moist (PWAT values exceeding 2.00, values closer to 2.25 across the Lower Susquehanna Valley) and unstable environment allowed for multiple clusters of thunderstorms to begin to form during the late morning hours and continue through the late evening hours of June 30, 2025. A shortwave stationed across the region allowed for enhanced lift, with relatively weak shear in plac…
Flood · Dec 18, 2023. A strong coastal storm developed over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, crossed the Florida peninsula, and pushed northward up the East Coast from December 17 through December 19, 2023. This system produced 2-4 of rainfall across the eastern half of Pennsylvania, which led to localized flooding. As colder air rushed in behind the system, 6 to 8 inches of snow fell across portions of Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands.
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 Lebanon 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.