4 flood insurance claims·$53,740 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 Ferry County, Washington. 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.
River flooding and rain-driven events dominate the flood history of Ferry County, Washington, backed by 19 recorded flood events and 6 flash flood events over the last 30 years.
Historical events illustrate these seasonal hazards. In May 2018, near-record snowpack melt in the British Columbia mountains caused record flooding on the Kettle River, inundating bottom lands, closing Highway 21 near Danville, and causing basement and first-floor home flooding. Later, an atmospheric river in April 2023 brought mild temperatures and heavy rain that triggered low-to-mid elevation snowmelt and subsequent flooding.
Property owners and real estate professionals should pay the closest attention to areas mapped within Special Flood Hazard Areas (Zone A) and standard zones (Zone X). FEMA records show NFIP claims in Zone A averaged $24,051 with an average recorded water depth of 0 inches, while Zone X claims averaged $5,637 with an average recorded water depth of 1 inch.
Summary written from NOAA storm reports and NFIP claims for this county. Not a prediction.
In flood insurance claims here that reported a flood depth, the average was 1 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 2018, with 2 claims and $48,103 paid, the year of 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.
15 NOAA storm reports from Ferry County describe what happened, in the words of the forecasters who covered it. Read the Washington flood stories →
22 federal disaster declarations since 1974, 3 of them floods, coastal storms or hurricanes.
| Disaster | Began |
|---|---|
| Swawilla Fire | Jul 17, 2024 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, And Mudslides | Jan 5, 2024 |
| Wildfires And Straight-line Winds | Sep 1, 2020 |
| Boyd's Fire | Aug 11, 2018 |
| Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, Mudslides | Jan 30, 2017 |
| Renner Fire | Aug 21, 2015 |
| Okanagan County Fire Complex | Aug 14, 2015 |
| Stickpin Fire | Aug 14, 2015 |
Weather and water disasters only; most recent first. Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations.
25 since 1996: 6 flash floods and 19 river or area floods.
| Event | Date | Damage |
|---|---|---|
| Flood | May 20, 2023 | $500 |
| Flood | Apr 10, 2023 | $500 |
| Flash Flood | Aug 10, 2019 | $5,000 |
| Flood | Apr 28, 2018 | $20,000 |
| Flood | May 9, 2018 | $100,000 |
| Flood | May 9, 2018 | $5,000 |
| Flood | May 5, 2018 | $3.0M |
| Flood | May 23, 2017 | $1,000 |
— = no damage estimate in the record. Source: NOAA Storm Events Database.
Flood · May 20, 2023. A passing cold front brought more thunderstorms to Eastern Washington. The impacts again included hail, lightning, winds, and flooding from heavy rain.
Flood · Apr 10, 2023. An atmospheric river brought mild temperatures and heavy rain to Northeast Washington. The mild temperatures caused snowmelt in the low to mid elevations. The rapid melt and rain amounts of an 1.0-1.5 caused flooding issues.
Flash Flood · Aug 10, 2019. The weather pattern on August 10th featured a very moist and unstable air mass with a passing upper level low pressure. These elements promoted widespread thunderstorms with heavy rain which produced Flash Flooding over potions of eastern Washington. Local observations indicated some of these slow moving storms produced from 1 to locally in excess of 5 inches of rain. Particularly hard hit was the Wenatchee area w…
Flood · Apr 28, 2018. Snow melt and rain created saturated soil conditions which lead to a road washout near Curlew in Ferry County. The road bed was undermined by the flood water causing the washout and collapse of a 20 foot section of the highway. The road is a major thoroughfare through the region and was re-opened after 2 days of repair work.
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 Ferry 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.