County Hazards

States › Pennsylvania › Lackawanna County › ZIP 18509

ZIP code 18509, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania

National Flood Insurance Program claims and payouts recorded for this ZIP code, with county context.

NCEI notes that Storm Data is compiled from a variety of sources including the National Weather Service, other federal, state and local agencies, the media and the public; that property and crop damage figures are estimates; and that some events are recorded by NWS forecast zone rather than by county. FEMA notes that NFIP claim records are redacted and aggregated to protect the privacy of policyholders. NFIP claims as of 8 Sep 2026.

ZIP code 18509, in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, has 506 National Flood Insurance Program claims in the OpenFEMA record since 1978, 453 of them paid for a total of $8.5M.

That is 37% of the 1,369 claims recorded across Lackawanna County. The average paid claim in the ZIP is $19K, close to the county average of $18K and the Pennsylvania average of $23K.

FEMA counts 92 repetitive-loss properties and 7 severe repetitive-loss properties in the ZIP (properties with two or more paid flood claims); their locations are not published.

At county level FEMA counts 878 residential flood policies in force, covering 1.2% of residential structures.

506NFIP claims since 1978
453paid claims
$8.5Mtotal paid
$19Kaverage paid claim

Compared with the county and state

MeasureZIP 18509LackawannaPennsylvaniaUS
Claims since 19785061,36977,0602,680,429
Share of claims paid90%83%82%78%
Average paid claim$19K$18K$23K$43K
Share of county claims37.0%100%——
Repetitive-loss properties921428,553—

Claims by year of loss

197820022026
NFIP claims in ZIP 18509 by year of loss, 1978 to 2026.
DecadeClaimsPaid
1970s3$821
1980s94$397,265
1990s144$1,523,454
2000s253$6,415,841
2010s5$16,385
2020s7$126,897
Year of lossClaimsPaid claimsAmount paidAverage paid
202531$96,558$96,558
202321$1,487$1,487
202122$28,853$14,426
201822$9,405$4,702
201711$4,493$4,493
201310$0—
201111$2,487$2,487
200710$0—
20065350$3,237,137$64,743
20052119$109,923$5,785
2004161150$2,937,007$19,580
20031713$131,773$10,136
199910$0—
1996141128$1,523,454$11,902
199410$0—
199310$0—
198911$920$920
198810$0—
19865347$87,236$1,856
19853633$267,138$8,095
198321$41,046$41,046
198011$926$926
197932$821$411

Claims are counted by year of loss as recorded in OpenFEMA's redacted NFIP claims file; amounts combine building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments. ZIP codes in the file are the policyholder's reported ZIP.

County context: Lackawanna County

Lackawanna County has 582 weather events in the NCEI record since 1950 (22 in the last 12 months), 22 federal disaster declarations, and an overall National Risk Index rating of "Relatively Moderate". Flood-type events recorded in the county: 99; hurricane-strength tracks within 50 miles: 1.

Hail: 74 · Tornado: 12 · Flood: 99 · Wind: 271 · Winter: 87 — full county page.

Questions and answers

How many flood insurance claims have been filed in ZIP 18509?

506 claims since 1978 in the OpenFEMA NFIP claims file, 453 of them with a payment.

How much has the NFIP paid out in ZIP 18509?

$8.5M across 453 paid claims (building, contents and increased-cost-of-compliance payments combined), about $19K per paid claim.

Which year had the most flood claims in 18509?

2004, with 161 claims and $2.9M paid.

What county is ZIP 18509 in?

Most claims in this ZIP carry the county code for Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania; ZIP codes can cross county lines. The county page carries the storm record, declarations and risk index for the area.

Provenance

OpenFEMA NfipClaims v3 (as of 8 Sep 2026) and NfipMultipleLossProperties v1 (2 Aug 2026), aggregated by ZIP code and year of loss on this site; no property-level record is shown. County storm figures from NOAA NCEI through 30 Jun 2026. Built 1 Oct 2026. See the guide to redacted NFIP claims and the methodology.