Oklahoma floods
Every recorded flood since 1996 · 77 counties with a record
NOAA's Storm Events Database records 4,346 floods and flash floods in Oklahoma from 1996 through June 30, 2026, about 140 a year since 2000. The deadliest was the May 31, 2013 flash flood in Oklahoma County: 13 deaths and $82,000 in damage in 2025 dollars across 3 records. Oklahoma ranks 16th of 52 states and territories by count and 28th of 51 per square mile.
Floods in Oklahoma, 1996 to 2026
Flood records per year (NOAA Storm Events); 2026 to June 30, 2026.
- recorded, no damage figure
- under $1 million
- $1 million or more
- $10 million or more
- $100 million or more, or 10 deaths
- $1 billion or more, or 100 deaths
- a year's colour: its recorded damage or deaths
- a year with a death
- Records
- 4,3461996 to June 30, 2026
- A year since 2000
- 140average
- Deaths
- 91182 injuries
- Damage, 2025 dollars
- $153Mas filed
- Busiest year
- 2015546 records
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; deaths and damage as filed, damage in 2025 dollars. Search the record at NCEI.
Are floods and flash floods common in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma averages about 140 floods and flash floods a year since 2000, 16th of 52 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2015 (546). Per 10,000 square miles of land, Oklahoma records 634 floods and flash floods since 1996, 28th of 51 states and territories by that measure.
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.
Which counties in Oklahoma have the most floods and flash floods?
Per square mile, Ottawa County leads Oklahoma: 127 days with a flood since 1996, 269.7 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Tulsa County has the most flood records (329 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.
When is flood season in Oklahoma?
47% of its floods and flash floods since 1996 fell in May and June. The busiest month is May (1,192 records).
The values, month by month
Jan 80 · Feb 58 · Mar 253 · Apr 508 · May 1,192 · Jun 829 · Jul 349 · Aug 310 · Sep 254 · Oct 235 · Nov 152 · Dec 126 (records).
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.
What were the deadliest floods and flash floods in Oklahoma?
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013-05-31 | Flash FloodWarr Acres, Oklahoma County One storm episode: 3 records; the totals are the episode's. A tornado outbreak occurred during the late afternoon and early evening hours of the 31st. A stalled front and deeply mixed dryline served as a focus for thunderstorm development. The front/dryline triple point was where the most intense supercells initiated. These storms traveled eastward, eventually impacting the ... | 13 | 0 | $82K | |
| 2007-08-18 | Flash FloodCarnegie, Caddo County One storm episode: 10 records in 9 places, 2007-08-18 to 2007-08-19; the totals are the episode's. Tropical Storm Erin, the fifth named storm of the 2007 Atlantic Hurricane season, developed quickly over the northeast Gulf of Mexico on the 15th, before moving onshore during the morning hours of the 16th. Erin moved onshore near Lamar, TX as a weak tropical storm, but was quickly downgraded to a tropical depression ... | 6 | 1 | $5.6M | |
| 2015-05-23 | FloodOnapa, McIntosh County One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places, 2015-05-23 to 2015-05-24; the totals are the episode's. A slow-moving upper level trough of low pressure moved from the Rockies into the Plains on the 23rd and 24th. Very moist and slightly unstable air was in place across the Southern Plains ahead of this system. Several rounds of thunderstorms developed and moved across eastern Oklahoma, resulting in widespread heavy ... | 4 | 0 | – | |
| 1996-09-26 | Flash FloodCountywide, Cherokee County | 4 | 0 | – | |
| 2022-11-04 | Flash FloodBidding Spgs, Adair County Locally heavy rainfall resulted in the flooding of portions of several county roads. A vehicle was driven into a flooded low water crossing west of Stilwell, where it was washed downstream. Four people were inside the vehicle at the time. A 14-year old boy and a 9-year old girl in the vehicle were taken to the ... | 2 | 2 | – | |
| 2025-04-30 | Flash FloodMacomb, Pottawatomie County One storm episode: 23 records in 10 places; the totals are the episode's. Multiple rounds of severe convection and flooding occurred from the predawn hours of the 29th into morning hours of the 30th. The most significant round of severe thunderstorm activity occurred across portions of western-north Texas on the evening of the 29th, where intense supercell thunderstorms produced very large ... | 2 | 1 | $470K | |
| 2015-06-18 | Flash FloodMacomb, Pottawatomie County One storm episode: 3 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. As tropical storm Bill made its way up through eastern and central Oklahoma through the 17th and 18th, widespread flash flooding ensued. | 2 | 0 | $6.3M | |
| 2015-05-20 | Flash FloodCole, McClain County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. Severe storms developed near a stalled boundary across Oklahoma and the panhandles and moved eastward through the afternoon and evening of the 19th, causing widespread heavy rainfall and additional flooding. One fatality occurred near Cole in McClain county, as a vehicle was swept into floodwaters. | 2 | 0 | $75K | |
| 2015-03-25 | Flash FloodWarner, Muskogee County A vehicle with two occupants was driven into a flooded low water crossing where an estimated 1 to 1.25 inches of rain had fallen over the previous few hours. The vehicle was washed off the road and the occupants died in the flood waters. | 2 | 0 | – | |
| 2025-04-20 | FloodLeonard, Tulsa County One storm episode: 2 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. Strong to severe thunderstorms developed across portions of eastern Oklahoma during the late evening of the 19th, as a strong upper level disturbance slowly translated into the Southern Plains, increasing low level forcing along and ahead of a weak surface front that stretched across the area. Weak instability ... | 2 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: deaths direct and indirect, as filed by the National Weather Service, summed over each storm (one episode, or one named storm filed by several offices). Storm names from the titles of FEMA declarations that name the storm's counties.
The costliest floods and flash floods in Oklahoma
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007-07-01 | FloodCommerce, Ottawa County | 0 | 0 | $28M | |
| 2000-05-06 | Flash FloodCountywide, Tulsa County One storm episode: 4 records in 4 places; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 0 | $15M | |
| 2000-10-22 | Flash FloodSouth Portion, Caddo County One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 2 | $13M | |
| 2010-06-14 | Flash FloodLawton, Comanche County One storm episode: 3 records in 3 places; the totals are the episode's. | 1 | 136 | $8.3M | |
| 1999-05-04 | Flash FloodVinita, Craig County | 0 | 0 | $7.1M | |
| 2015-06-18 | Flash FloodMacomb, Pottawatomie County One storm episode: 3 records in 2 places; the totals are the episode's. | 2 | 0 | $6.3M | |
| 2007-08-18 | Flash FloodCarnegie, Caddo County One storm episode: 10 records in 9 places, 2007-08-18 to 2007-08-19; the totals are the episode's. | 6 | 1 | $5.6M | |
| 2015-05-23 | Flash FloodCache, Comanche County One storm episode: 7 records in 5 places; the totals are the episode's. | 0 | 0 | $3.7M |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.
Are floods and flash floods becoming more frequent in Oklahoma?
Oklahoma's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.
| Decade | Oklahoma | United States | Oklahoma's share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-99 | 657 | 20,986 | 3.1% |
| 2000s | 1,289 | 54,913 | 2.3% |
| 2010s | 1,708 | 68,322 | 2.5% |
| 2020-26 | 692 | 43,563 | 1.6% |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.
The most recent floods and flash floods in Oklahoma
| Date | Record | Character | Killed | Injured | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-30 | FloodPerry, Noble County | 0 | 0 | $50K | |
| 2026-06-26 | Flash FloodStillwater Airport, Payne County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-26 | Flash FloodPerry, Noble County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-26 | Flash FloodStillwater Airport, Payne County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-26 | Flash FloodGarber, Garfield County | 0 | 0 | $25K | |
| 2026-06-26 | Flash FloodNoxie, Nowata County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-25 | Flash FloodKildare, Kay County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-25 | Flash FloodSkiatook, Tulsa County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-24 | Flash FloodYale, Payne County | 0 | 0 | $50K | |
| 2026-06-24 | Flash FloodBroken Arrow, Tulsa County | 0 | 0 | $30K | |
| 2026-06-24 | Flash FloodAlsuma, Tulsa County | 0 | 0 | – | |
| 2026-06-23 | Flash FloodPauls Valley, Garvin County | 0 | 0 | – |
Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.
Federal disaster declarations for floods and flash floods in Oklahoma
FEMA has declared 62 disasters in Oklahoma for floods and flash floods, counting its incident type and declarations that name flood in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 60 were major disasters, the latest on March 18, 2025.
| Declared | Number | Title | Areas named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-03-18 | DR-4862 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 8 |
| 2024-06-14 | DR-4791 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 10 |
| 2024-04-30 | DR-4776 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 25 |
| 2022-09-20 | DR-4670 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 1 |
| 2022-06-29 | DR-4657 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 7 |
| 2019-08-07 | DR-4456 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 1 |
| 2019-07-12 | DR-4453 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 19 |
| 2019-06-01 | DR-4438 | Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 51 |
| 2019-05-25 | EM-3411 | Flooding | 10 |
| 2017-07-25 | DR-4324 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding | 16 |
| 2017-05-26 | DR-4315 | Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding | 21 |
| 2016-07-15 | DR-4274 | Severe Storms and Flooding | 8 |
Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.
Next
- Ottawa County: the county's whole recordThe Oklahoma county with the most floods and flash floods per square mile
- Floods across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
- Every natural hazard in OklahomaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
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