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Montour County, PA flood insurance claims history

154 claims under the National Flood Insurance Program have been filed for flood losses in Montour County since 1978, and FEMA has paid out $3.2M on them. The worst year was 2011 with 51 claims. Montour County ranks #59 of 67 in Pennsylvania by claim count.

At a glance

  • 43% of claims came from buildings outside FEMA’s high-risk flood zones (B, C or X), where lenders usually do not require flood insurance.
  • 32% of all claims trace to a single event — Tropical Storm Lee (2011), which paid $2.5M here.
  • Flood claims were filed in 3 of the last 10 years — losses here come in occasional big events rather than every year.
  • More flood claims than 12% of the 67 Pennsylvania counties with any claims on file — and more than 0 of its 3 neighbors.
  • ZIP 17821 has the most claims in the county (113, 73%). Check your ZIP →
NFIP claims
154
1978–2024
Total paid
$3.2M
nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted
Claims paid
79%
122 received a payment
Average payout
$26K
per paid claim
Last 10 years
7
claims 2015 – 2024
Most recent loss
2024-05-23
data as of 2026-09-08

Look up your ZIP code

Pick your ZIP code to see how many insured buildings there filed flood claims, in which years, and how much was paid — and which named floods those claims came from, which a county-wide list cannot tell you. Narrow by year or flood zone too. Everything runs in your browser — nothing you pick is sent anywhere. Have a street address? Run the printable flood check for it →

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Flood claims by year

Peak: 51 claims in 2011

Claims by year of loss, 1978–2024. Spikes line up with named storms and major rain events; quiet years still see claims from local flash flooding.

Biggest flood events in Montour County

Flood event (FEMA name)ClaimsPaidAvg / claimYear
Tropical Storm Lee50$2.5M$49K2011
Flooding (FEMA general label)18$204K$11K1996
Tropical Storm Ivan11$50K$5K2004
Flooding (FEMA general label)5$6K$1K1984
Flooding (FEMA general label)1$0$01986
Tropical Storm Allison1$20K$20K2001
Hurricane Ida1$2K$2K2021

56% of claims here fall under these 7 entries. “FEMA general label” groups many separate floods under one name; the rest of the claims have no event name.

Flood zones in Montour County: which ones the claims came from

Montour County is not in one flood zone. FEMA draws zones parcel by parcel, so one street can be Zone AE and the next Zone X — there is no single zone for a whole county. What the claim record can tell you is which zones buildings were actually rated in when they flooded, and what each zone has cost here.

High-risk A zones: 82 (53%)Coastal high-risk V zones: 0 (0%)Moderate / low-risk zones (B, C, X): 63 (41%)Zone not recorded: 9 (6%)

The most common zone on Montour County claims is Zone AE — 37 of 145 claims with a zone on file (26%). 57% were in a high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area, where a federally backed mortgage makes flood insurance mandatory. Open any zone below for what it means and whether it requires insurance.

Flood zone at ratingClaimsSharePaidAvg / claim
Zone AE · high risk, insurance required3726%$1.6M$43K
Zone A1–A30 · high risk, insurance required3625%$553K$15K
Zone B · moderate / low risk2920%$297K$10K
Zone X · moderate / low risk2316%$418K$18K
Zone C · moderate / low risk118%$164K$15K
Zone A · high risk, insurance required96%$152K$17K

The zone is the one used to rate the policy when the claim was paid, not today’s map — FEMA remaps areas, so a building rated AE in 1995 may sit in a different zone now. AHB and AOB are older AH / AO variants; A1–A30 and V1–V30 are numbered zones from pre-2000 maps. 9 Montour County claims have no zone recorded and are left out of the shares above. Not sure what the letters mean? Flood zones explained →

What caused the flooding

Cause of damage (as coded by FEMA)ClaimsShare
Stream, river or lake overflow5435%
Accumulation of rainfall or snowmelt5435%
Tidal water overflow (storm surge)3623%
Other causes75%
Not recorded32%

Flood claims by ZIP code in Montour County

9 ZIP codes in Montour County have at least one NFIP claim. ZIP codes can cross county lines; this table counts only claims FEMA assigned to Montour County.

17821113$2.4M73%162024
1788417$222K11%102018
178209$424K6%32011
173605$5K3%31983
177724$118K3%32018
170842$13K1%22004
177582$21K1%21998
178471$2K1%11984
190061$20K1%12001

Click a column to sort. Click a ZIP to load it in the lookup above.

When does Montour County flood?

September accounts for the most flood losses (64 claims, 42%). Claims by month of loss:

MonthClaimsShare
January2214%
February64%
March2214%
April96%
May11%
June128%
July32%
August53%
September6442%
October11%
November21%
December75%

Year-by-year detail

Year of lossClaimsPaid
20241$0
20211$2K
20185$188K
20141$0
201151$2.5M
20101$1K
20082$9K
200611$188K
20051$4K
200411$50K
20011$20K
19991$10K
19981$5K
199618$204K
19937$7K
19861$0
19848$8K
198310$17K
19811$0
197919$25K
19782$1K

Neighboring counties

Montour County borders 3 areas we cover. Flood risk does not stop at a county line, so it is worth comparing.

NeighborClaimsPaidOutside high-risk
Montour County (this page)154$3.2M43%
Lycoming County3,878$58.3M13%
Columbia County2,200$63.2M27%
Northumberland County1,721$24.2M22%

All 67 Pennsylvania counties → · County and ZIP rankings →

Common questions about flooding in Montour County

Has Montour County flooded recently?
Yes — the most recent flood loss with an insurance claim on file was on 2024-05-23, and claims were filed in 3 of the last 10 years (7 claims from 2015 to 2024). FEMA’s data runs to 2026-09-08, so the newest events may not appear yet.
What flood zone is Montour County in?
There is no single answer — zones are drawn parcel by parcel, so one street can be Zone AE and the next Zone X. Across 145 Montour County claims with a zone on file, the most common was Zone AE (26%), and 57% were in a high-risk Special Flood Hazard Area. For one address, look it up on the free flood check or FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center; the zone breakdown above shows what each zone has cost here.
Do I need flood insurance in a low-risk zone here?
Lenders generally require it only in high-risk A and V zones. But 43% of Montour County’s claims came from moderate- and low-risk zones. Whether to buy coverage is your call — see flood zones explained and check your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
Can I see whether a specific house has flooded?
Not here. FEMA removes addresses before publishing, so these figures describe areas, never a property. Our guide how to check if a house has flooded lists the questions and records that can tell you about a specific home.
Why might the real number of floods be higher?
Only buildings with National Flood Insurance can file these claims, and most homes are not insured for flood. More on what the counts mean in understanding NFIP claims data.

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About these numbers

Figures are aggregated from FEMA’s OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims dataset (county FIPS 42093, data as of 2026-09-08). They cover only properties that carried National Flood Insurance — most homes do not, and private flood policies are not included — so real flood damage is larger than these counts show. Dollar amounts are as paid, in nominal dollars. Flood zone is the zone used to rate the policy at the time, which may differ from today’s map. FEMA states this dataset is not an official federal report. Use it for background, not for a purchase, insurance or legal decision; for a specific property ask the seller for its flood disclosure or the owner’s NFIP loss history.

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