1,041 flood insurance claims·$26.1M paid·9 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 Schuylkill 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 history of Schuylkill County, accounting for 37 out of 59 total recorded flood events over the last 30 years alongside 1 flood-related death and 1 tropical storm. Localized heavy rainfall events frequently trigger rapid inundation, as demonstrated in August 2025 when thunderstorms dropped 3 to 6 inches of rain in a two-to-three hour timeframe, causing flooded roadways and basements in Washington Township. Similarly, training thunderstorms in June 2023 produced over 5 inches of rainfall, resulting in minor flooding and ponding of water in the Pottsville area.
Property owners and real estate professionals should pay the most attention to locations within FEMA Zone A, which accounts for the vast majority of the county's flood insurance claims at 840 claims with an average payout of $25,506 and an average recorded water depth of 13 inches. While Zone X properties experienced fewer total claims, higher average payouts of $82,454 with an average water depth of 11 inches indicate significant risk outside of traditionally mapped high-risk areas.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
7% of Schuylkill County’s flood insurance claims were on properties rated outside FEMA’s high-risk zones.
904 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 13 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 2006, with 365 claims and $8.2M paid, the year of Severe Storms, Flooding, and Mudslides and 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.
7 NOAA storm reports from Schuylkill County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Pennsylvania flood stories →
24 federal disaster declarations since 1965, 9 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Remnants Of Hurricane Ida | Aug 31, 2021 |
| Severe Storms And Flooding | Aug 10, 2018 |
| 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 Storms And Flooding | Nov 16, 2006 |
| Severe Storms, Flooding, And Mudslides | Jun 23, 2006 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
59 since 1996: 37 flash floods and 21 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | Jun 30, 2025 | — |
| Flood | May 16, 2025 | — |
| Flash Flood | Aug 16, 2025 | — |
| Flood | Jun 12, 2023 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 9, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Sep 1, 2021 | — |
| Flood | Jun 23, 2020 | — |
| Flash Flood | Jun 4, 2020 | — |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
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…
Flood · May 16, 2025. A cold front across northwestern Pennsylvania allowed for severe thunderstorms to form during the early morning hours across northwestern Pennsylvania, briefly producing quarter-sized hail before moving northeastward into New York. Thunderstorms associated with a cold front across Ohio and western Pennsylvania continued progressing further eastward, becoming more separated from the surface cold front as they progr…
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…
Flood · Jun 12, 2023. Training thunderstorms produced a localized 5+ inch rainfall amount in Schuylkill County during the evening of June 12, 2023, causing minor flooding and ponding of water in the Pottsville area.
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 Schuylkill 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.