Photo: Nyttend · Public domainStorms, floods and disasters in Mortons Gap
Mortons Gap isn’t graded for hazard risk: Mortons Gap has 650 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1982.
What Mortons Gap faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
River and rain flooding
Earthquakes
Tornadoes
Shares are of FEMA’s expected building damage, the measure the grade uses; ranks compare each hazard’s building-damage rate with all 85,154 U.S. census tracts. In FEMA’s terms, river and rain flooding is FEMA’s “Inland Flooding” (rivers and streams overflowing their banks, or rain overwhelming drainage). FEMA defines coastal flooding as high or rising tides and storm surge, so surge damage is counted there. Drought isn’t listed: FEMA counts its losses in crops only.
Does Mortons Gap flood? Rarely: 2 flood claims since 1982
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Mortons Gap, from FEMA’s records.
Mortons Gap isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Hopkins County.5 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Mortons Gap
Disasters that paid out in Mortons Gap itself (aid to households or repair grants to the City of Mortons Gap), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2025Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides5 households applied for aid$82K aid approved
- 2024Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Landslides, and Mudslides9 households applied for aid$53K aid approved
- 2021Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Flooding, and Tornadoes21 households applied for aid$28K aid approved
- 2010Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Tornadoes1 households applied for aid$4K aid approved
- 2004Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding, and Mudslides1 households applied for aid$500 aid approved
Hopkins County has had 23 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often severe storms, then winter storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Old photos of Mortons Gap after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Mortons Gap archive →Get ready for what Mortons Gap faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Questions about natural hazards in Mortons Gap
Does Mortons Gap flood?
Flood insurance has paid 2 claims in Mortons Gap since 1982, $3K in all.
Is Mortons Gap in a flood zone?
Flood zones are drawn street by street, so the answer depends on the address: look it up on FEMA’s flood map. In Hopkins County, 10% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.4% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Mortons Gap?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Mortons Gap’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
What was the biggest storm in Mortons Gap?
By FEMA money that reached Mortons Gap, Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornadoes, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (2025): 5 households applied for aid, $82K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Mortons Gap.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Mortons Gap’s residents lived in the 2020 census; OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. FEMA’s model is an average of expected damage, not a forecast. How hazard risk is graded.