Photo: kennethaw88 · CC BY 4.0Storms, floods and disasters in Earlsboro
Earlsboro isn’t graded for hazard risk: Earlsboro has 571 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Earlsboro 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
Tornadoes
Hail
Wildfire
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 Earlsboro flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Earlsboro. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Earlsboro isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Pottawatomie County.5 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Earlsboro
Disasters that paid out in Earlsboro itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Earlsboro), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2022Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding12 households applied for aid$69K aid approved
- 2015Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-line Winds, and Flooding14 households applied for aid$33K aid approved
- 2010Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds83 households applied for aid$360K aid approved
- 2007Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding4 households applied for aid$1K aid approved
- 2007Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes6 households applied for aid$2K aid approved
Pottawatomie County has had 29 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.
Also 6 FEMA wildfire suppression grants (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Pottawatomie County, 2006–2025.
Old photos of Earlsboro after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Earlsboro archive →Get ready for what Earlsboro 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.
- 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.
- Park in a garage or under cover when storms are forecast.
- Stay away from windows while it falls.
- Photograph roof and car damage for your insurer.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- 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 Earlsboro
Is Earlsboro 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 Pottawatomie County, 13% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.4% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Earlsboro?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Earlsboro’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 Earlsboro?
By FEMA money that reached Earlsboro, Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds (2010): 83 households applied for aid, $360K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Earlsboro.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Earlsboro’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.