Flood Insurance Claims in Floyd County Have Paid $4.4 Million Since 1978. Here's What Buyers Should Know.

Flood insurance claims in Floyd County have paid out $4.4 million since 1978, and 2025 was the county's costliest year. Across Clark, Floyd, Harrison and Jefferson counties, the federal flood program has paid about $129 million on 6,857 claims. If you're buying near water, check the flood zone and get a flood quote before you make an offer.

Key takeaways

• Floyd County: $4.4 million paid on 233 claims since 1978. 2025 alone was $939,000.
• Clark County: $17.5 million on 860 claims. 2025 was its costliest year, at $4.7 million.
• Harrison County: $8.6 million on 207 claims. 2025 paid $4.7 million, more than half of the 47-year total.
• Jefferson County, KY (Louisville): $98.8 million on 5,557 claims. 1997 is still its biggest year, at $29.4 million.
• Coverage usually takes 30 days to start, unless you buy it as part of getting a mortgage.

Table of contents

1. Do I need flood insurance in Southern Indiana?
2. Flood claims by county
3. How big was 2025?
4. What does flood insurance cost here?
5. What to check before you buy a home
6. Find an agent who knows the area
7. FAQs

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Do I need flood insurance in Southern Indiana?

Short answer: it's required in some cases, and worth pricing in many more.

Here is what FEMA's FloodSmart site says:

• It's required if the home is in a high-risk flood area (zones that start with A or V on FEMA flood maps) and you have a government-backed mortgage (FloodSmart).
• High risk isn't the only risk. From 2014 to 2024, nearly one-third of NFIP flood claims came from outside high-risk areas (FloodSmart).
• Your homeowners policy probably won't help. Most homeowners insurance does not cover flood damage (FloodSmart).

So the real question for a buyer is not only "is it required?" It's "what would a flood cost me here, and what does coverage cost?" The county numbers below help with the first part.

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How much have flood claims paid in each county?

Short answer: about $129 million since 1978 across the four counties, most of it in Jefferson County.

County	Claims since 1978	Total paid	Biggest years
Clark County, IN	860	$17.5 million	2025 ($4.7M), 1997 ($4.3M), 2018 ($4.1M)
Floyd County, IN	233	$4.4 million	2025 ($0.94M), 2006 ($0.75M), 1997 ($0.74M)
Harrison County, IN	207	$8.6 million	2025 ($4.7M), 2018 ($1.3M), 1997 ($0.81M)
Jefferson County, KY	5,557	$98.8 million	1997 ($29.4M), 2025 ($13.8M), 2018 ($13.6M)

"Total paid" adds up building, contents and Increased Cost of Compliance payments. Claim counts include claims closed without a payment. Years are the year of the loss.

Jefferson County's totals are so much larger that a single chart hides the Indiana side. Here each county gets its own scale:

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How big was the 2025 flood year?

Short answer: the biggest on record for Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties.

The April 2025 Ohio River flooding made 2025 the largest claims year in the data for all three Indiana counties. In Harrison County, 2025 losses account for 54% of every flood claim dollar paid there since 1978.

One big year doesn't predict the next one. It does show that flooding here is not a once-a-generation story from 1997.

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What does flood insurance cost in these counties?

Short answer: the average NFIP policy runs about $1,100 to $2,800 a year here, but your price depends on the building.

County	NFIP policies in force	Average yearly cost	Share in high-risk (A or V) zones
Clark County, IN	732	$1,137	62%
Floyd County, IN	178	$2,824	66%
Harrison County, IN	79	$1,964	73%
Jefferson County, KY	3,982	$1,566	80%

"Average yearly cost" is what policyholders pay in total: premium plus fees and surcharges. Policies in force are as of September 8, 2026.

Two trends stand out:

• Fewer policies everywhere. New and renewed policies written per year fell from 2018 to 2025 in all four counties. Clark went from 967 to 743, Floyd from 220 to 193, Harrison from 110 to 74 and Jefferson from 4,746 to 4,035.
• Floyd's average cost about doubled. It went from $1,280 for policies written in 2018 to $2,666 in 2025. The data shows the change, not the reason, so don't assume your quote will look like the average.

FEMA says three things set an NFIP rate: where the building is, how it's built and what it would cost to replace (FloodSmart). FEMA's current pricing approach, Risk Rating 2.0, has been fully in place since April 1, 2023, and most rates can't rise more than 18% a year (FEMA). Every NFIP provider uses the same rates, so you don't have to shop the price around (FloodSmart).

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What should I check before I buy a home near water?

Short answer: the map, the timing and the quote, before your inspection period ends.

1. Look up the flood zone on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. Zones starting with A or V are high risk.
2. Ask about flood history. Ask the seller and your agent about past water in the home, and read the seller disclosure.
3. Get a flood quote early. A quote turns "flood risk" into a monthly number you can compare between homes.
4. Know the timing. NFIP coverage usually starts 30 days after you buy it. There's no wait if you buy it while getting, increasing, extending or renewing a mortgage (FloodSmart).
5. Know what it covers. Building policies cover up to $250,000 and contents policies up to $100,000. Things like most belongings kept in a basement, decks, fences and temporary housing aren't covered (FloodSmart).

For a broader list of steps, see our first-time home buyer checklist.

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Find an agent who knows the area

Short answer: a local agent can help you ask the right flood questions for a specific street.

Agent Intro is an introduction and referral service of Aire Realty, LLC, an Indiana-licensed real estate brokerage, serving buyers and sellers in Southern Indiana and Greater Louisville. Fill out a short Match Profile. A member of our team will review your Match Profile, then introduce you to one of our vetted local real estate agents who fits your plans. You are never obligated to hire anyone.

See How It Works, How We Choose Agents and our FAQ.

Disclosure: The agent we introduce may be affiliated with Aire Realty, LLC, which operates Agent Intro. If so, we tell you when we make the introduction. Agent Intro earns a referral fee when an introduction leads to a closed transaction. When the introduction is to a partner brokerage, that brokerage pays the fee to Aire Realty, LLC. Full details are on our Disclosure page.

This post is general information, not insurance, tax or legal advice. Flood insurance rules and prices change. Confirm the details for your home with the official source, FEMA or FloodSmart.gov, or a licensed insurance agent.

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FAQs

Do I need flood insurance in Southern Indiana?

It's required if the home is in a high-risk flood zone (A or V) and you have a government-backed mortgage. It isn't required elsewhere, but nearly one-third of NFIP claims from 2014 to 2024 came from outside high-risk areas, so it's worth getting a quote.

Does homeowners insurance cover flooding?

Usually not. FEMA's FloodSmart site says most homeowners and renters insurance does not cover flood damage. Flood coverage is a separate policy.

How long does it take for flood insurance to start?

NFIP coverage usually starts 30 days after you buy it. There's no wait if you buy it while getting, increasing, extending or renewing a mortgage.

How much have flood claims paid in Floyd County, Indiana?

About $4.4 million on 233 claims since 1978, per FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP data. 2025 was Floyd County's largest year, at about $939,000.

How much does flood insurance cost in Louisville?

The average NFIP policy in Jefferson County, KY costs about $1,566 a year, as of September 2026. Your price depends on the building's location, construction and replacement cost.

Does this data include private flood insurance?

No. It covers the federal National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) only, so private flood policies are not included and the policy counts understate total coverage.

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Data note: Source: FEMA OpenFEMA NFIP data (pulled Oct 19, 2026; current through Sep 8, 2026). Claims from the NfipClaims v3 dataset and policies from the NfipPolicies v3 dataset. NFIP only, so private policies are not included. Dollar amounts are nominal, not adjusted for inflation. Claim years are the year of the loss. OpenFEMA rounds or removes some fields for privacy, and a small number of policy records without location data may be missed. This post uses county totals only, with no property-level data.