Photo: FatCat96 · CC BY-SA 4.0Storms, floods and disasters in Payne Gap
Payne Gap isn’t graded for hazard risk: Payne Gap has 440 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Payne 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
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 Payne Gap flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Payne Gap. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Payne 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: Letcher County.The storms Payne Gap remembers
None of the 35 disasters declared for Letcher County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Payne Gap itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Letcher County has had 35 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often severe storms, then floods. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Also 1 FEMA wildfire suppression grant (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Letcher County, 2016–2016.
Payne Gap and its neighbors
How expected damage per building compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Hazard risk | Mostly (buildings) | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jenkins | Dmore damage than 89% | river and rain flooding | 13 |
Hazard risk = FEMA’s expected yearly building damage per dollar of building value, vs. the 21,298 U.S. towns we grade; the map is shaded by fifths of the same scale. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Get ready for what Payne 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.
- 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 Payne Gap
Is Payne 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 Letcher County, 9% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 1.4% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Payne Gap?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Payne Gap’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Payne Gap.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Payne 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.