487 flood insurance claims·$3.9M 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 Mifflin 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 and river flooding from heavy rainfall events dominate the flood history of Mifflin County. Over the past 30 years, recorded events include 8 flash floods, 7 general floods resulting in 1 death, and 1 tropical storm. Significant historical impacts include heavy rainfall from September 2021 that caused flooding and road closures in northeastern Mifflin County, and widespread small stream flooding produced by heavy rain along a slow-moving cold front in May 2014. Other notable impacts stem from major regional weather systems, such as Hurricane Sandy in October 2012 and the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee in September 2011.
National Flood Insurance Program records show varying risk profiles across different zones. Zone A accounts for the highest claim volume with 260 claims, averaging an 8-inch recorded water depth and a $12,549 payout. Properties in Zone X_UNSHADED experienced an average recorded water depth of 16 inches across 19 claims, with an average payout of $10,545. Zone X recorded 46 claims with an average 4-inch water depth and a $15,136 payout, while Zone X_SHADED saw 76 claims averaging 7 inches of water depth and a $6,699 payout. An additional 85 claims occurred in Zone UNKNOWN, averaging 2 inches of water depth and a $3,226 payout.
Homeowners and real estate agents in Zone A and Zone X_UNSHADED should pay the most attention, given their high claim concentrations and significant recorded water depths.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
27% of Mifflin County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
356 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 7 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 159 claims and $1.7M paid, the year of Severe Storms and Flooding and Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Fran.
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 Mifflin County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Pennsylvania flood stories →
17 federal disaster declarations since 1972, 8 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Sandy | Oct 26, 2012 |
| Remnants Of Tropical Storm Lee | Sep 3, 2011 |
| Tropical Storm Lee | Sep 3, 2011 |
| Hurricane Katrina | Aug 29, 2005 |
| Tropical Depression Ivan | Sep 17, 2004 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Frances | Sep 8, 2004 |
| Snow | Feb 14, 2003 |
| Flooding Associated With Tropical Depression Fran | Sep 6, 1996 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
16 since 1996: 8 flash floods and 7 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Sep 23, 2021 | — |
| Flood | May 16, 2014 | — |
| Flood | Oct 29, 2012 | — |
| Flood | Sep 7, 2011 | $100,000 |
| Flash Flood | May 3, 2011 | — |
| Flood | Sep 18, 2004 | — |
| Flood | Sep 17, 2004 | — · 1 killed |
| Tropical Storm | Sep 18, 2003 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · Sep 23, 2021. Heavy rain brought flooding to portions of eastern Centre and Northeast Mifflin county on September 23rd. ||The National Weather Service State College reported that the area around Aaronsburg, Spring Mills, and Alfarata in eastern Centre and northeastern Mifflin Counties received between 5-5.50 inches of rain.||Flooding and road closures were reported in State College, Bellefonte, Park Forest Village, Woodward, B…
Flood · May 16, 2014. Deep southerly flow transported a plume of seasonably high moisture into the region along a slow-moving, north-south oriented cold front. This favorable heavy rain pattern produced a stripe of 2.5-5.0 inches of rainfall from the northern Blue Ridge into the north-central mountains of Pennsylvania. Widespread small stream flooding and multiple road closures were reported with five river forecast points in the Junia…
Flood · Oct 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy began as a tropical wave over the Caribbean Sea around 19 October 2012 and became a powerful storm by 23 October 2012 before making its long track over the western Atlantic, just off the East Coast of the United States and then into New Jersey and Pennsylvania. High latitude blocking over the North Atlantic and the interaction with a strong upper-air disturbance over the central Appalachians allowe…
Flood · Sep 7, 2011. Heavy rainfall from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee produced widespread flooding, flash flooding and river flooding mainly near and to the east of the Susquehanna Valley from September 4-10. Several locations in the Susquehanna Basin came close to records set by Hurricane Agnes (June 1972) and a few points (Bloomsburg, Hershey and Loyalsockville) set new floods of record. Flooding along Swatara Creek resulted i…
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 Mifflin 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.