Preble County, OH: flood risk, in FEMA's own numbers
On FEMA's National Risk Index, Preble County scores at the 51.4th percentile for flood hazard, rated "Relatively Low" — below the national norm for flood hazard. The hazard here is driven by inland rivers and flash flooding rather than the coast — FEMA's model puts a flood event here at about 1.6 times a year. County-wide, not parcel-specific: FEMA's real flood-zone map is queried live, never shipped as a download.
Mandatory flood insurance compliance in Preble County
Homes with a federally backed mortgage inside Preble County's mapped high-risk flood zone (the Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA) are legally required to carry an NFIP flood policy. In practice, 14.7% of them do — 65 active policies against 441 structures FEMA counts in that zone, leaving a real compliance gap. Looking beyond the mandated zone, 0.5% of all residential structures in Preble County carry flood coverage voluntarily or otherwise — relevant because most NFIP claims nationally come from outside the mapped SFHA.
Where Preble County ranks
Among the 3144 US counties FEMA scores for flood hazard, Preble County ranks 1593 — 1 being the highest hazard nationally — and 1176 by population among all 3144 counties covered here, where 1 is the largest. About 40,801 people live in Preble County, Ohio, spread over 424.226 square miles.
Checking a specific address in Preble County
Across all of Preble County's 18,459 residential structures, 87 carry an NFIP policy today — a county-wide count that still can't tell you one address's own mapped zone.
Where Preble County's figures come from
Every figure on this page traces to a named FEMA dataset, documented in the methodology guide. If you're unsure why any of this insurance requirement exists at all, the SFHA explainer covers it from first principles.