Natural hazards · Payne Gap

Payne Gap, KY natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Payne Gap comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Payne Gap?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Payne Gap to be higher than in 83% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding85%Cold waves5%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Payne Gap faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Inland flooding

85% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Payne Gap flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Payne Gap.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. 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.

Disasters that hit Payne Gap

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Letcher County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Payne Gap itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Payne GapDeclared for Letcher County only

Letcher County has had 36 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Payne Gap is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Payne Gap’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Payne Gap. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); 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. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.