Does Wissahickon flood?

Wissahickon, Philadelphia, PA · ZIP codes 19127 and 19128: the ZIP codes on most of the flood insurance claims counted here. ZIP codes do not follow neighborhood lines.

Yes. Insured properties in and around Wissahickon have filed flood claims. About 16% of Wissahickon’s mapped area is inside FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area; the rest is in moderate or minimal-hazard Zone X. NFIP flood insurance records list 100 claims from the Census block groups that cover Wissahickon, from 1978 through 2021. 86 of them received a payment, totaling $9,020,029 (not adjusted for inflation). The busiest years were 2011 (12 claims), 1999 (11 claims), 2021 (10 claims).

Past claims do not predict future flooding, and a neighborhood figure cannot tell you about one building. Look up the exact address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center and get flood insurance quotes before you sign a lease or a contract.

Check a specific address in Wissahickon

Neighborhood figures are averages. Our address check looks up the FEMA flood zone at one address, from the same public maps: check if your address is in a flood zone.

Flood zones street by street in Wissahickon

The named streets in Wissahickon, longest first, with how much of each street’s length inside Wissahickon lies in FEMA’s high-risk flood zones (the Special Flood Hazard Area, zones A and V). Length is the part inside Wissahickon; the main zone is the FEMA zone covering most of that length. A street can cross several zones, so the zone at one address can differ from the street’s main zone: check the address above for that.

Streets: U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, Transportation (primary, secondary and local roads). Flood zones: FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels, retrieved November 7, 2026. Each street is clipped to the neighborhood boundary and measured in an equal-area projection. Street lengths are rounded.

Flood zones in Wissahickon

Share of Wissahickon’s mapped area (about 0.842 km²) in each FEMA flood zone, from FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels. Effective date of the FIRM panel(s) covering it (4207570088G, 4207570089G, 42091C0388G, 42091C0389G): January 17, 2007, March 2, 2016.

What the zones mean

Zone AE (and A, AH, AO)

High-risk: part of the Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA), the area FEMA maps as having a 1-percent chance of flooding in any given year (the “100-year” or base flood). AE areas have a mapped base flood elevation.

Zone VE (and V)

High-risk coastal areas, also in the SFHA, where the base flood is expected to bring additional hazards from storm waves.

Zone X (shaded)

Moderate hazard: between the limits of the 1-percent and the 0.2-percent-annual-chance (“500-year”) flood.

Zone X (unshaded)

Minimal hazard: outside the SFHA and higher than the 0.2-percent-annual-chance flood elevation. Minimal is not zero: flood claims are filed from X zones too.

Source: FEMA Glossary: Flood Zones.

Flood insurance claims over time

Claims filed under the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) from the 2010 Census block groups that cover Wissahickon. About 76% of the combined area of those block groups lies inside Wissahickon, so the claim figures also reflect some nearby blocks. Only insured properties appear, so these counts understate total flooding.

By decade

By year of loss

Named flood events with the most claims

• Hurricane Ida: 10 claims
• Hurricane Floyd: 10 claims
• Hurricane Irene: 9 claims
• Mid-spring storms: 8 claims
• Flooding: 8 claims

FEMA labels some events only as “Flooding”. Claims by the flood zone the property was rated in:

• A/AE/AH/AO (high risk): 68
• X/B/C (moderate or minimal): 24
• Not reported: 8

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Before you rent or buy in Wissahickon

• Look up the exact address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center; a neighborhood can mix high-risk and minimal-hazard zones.
• Ask the landlord or seller about past flooding and flood insurance claims at the property.
• Get a flood insurance quote early: new NFIP policies usually take 30 days to start (FloodSmart (NFIP): Buy a Flood Insurance Policy).
• Ask which floor the unit is on and where parking, storage and mechanical equipment sit.

Living in Wissahickon

Flood maps are only one part of choosing a neighborhood. To compare Wissahickon with other Philadelphia neighborhoods on more than flooding, see Philadelphia on StrollPlace.

Buyer and renter FAQ

FAQ sources: FloodSmart (NFIP): Buy a Flood Insurance Policy; FEMA Fact Sheet: Think you don’t need flood insurance? Think again (Jan. 21, 2025); 44 CFR 61.11, Effective date and time of coverage.

Nearby neighborhoods

• Does Manayunk flood?
• Roxborough
• Wissahickon Park
• East Falls
• West Park
• Wynnefield Heights

How these numbers were made

Neighborhood boundary: Philadelphia Neighborhoods by Robert Cheetham (Azavea), published on OpenDataPhilly, licensed CC BY 4.0 (CC BY 4.0). Flood zone shares: the neighborhood polygon intersected with FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels, area computed in an equal-area projection; retrieved November 7, 2026. Claims: OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3 records for Philadelphia County (county code 42101), dataset as of September 8, 2026, retrieved November 7, 2026. A 2010 Census block group is counted for a neighborhood when at least 25% of the block group lies inside the neighborhood, or at least 25% of the neighborhood lies inside the block group. Block groups used: 421010209003 (95.8% of the block group is inside Wissahickon), 421010210004 (47.5% of the block group is inside Wissahickon), 421010209004 (72.4% of the block group is inside Wissahickon), 421010209001 (83.1% of the block group is inside Wissahickon), 421010209002 (85.1% of the block group is inside Wissahickon), 421010211001 (99.4% of the block group is inside Wissahickon). Neighboring pages can share a block group, so their counts can overlap. Paid totals add building, contents and Increased Cost of Compliance payments and are not adjusted for inflation; a claim whose FEMA record shows a negative payment (an adjustment) counts as zero. See the methodology.

Sources

1. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), FEMA OpenFEMA Dataset: FIMA NFIP Redacted Claims - v3. Retrieved on November 7, 2026.
2. FEMA National Flood Hazard Layer (NFHL), Flood Hazard Zones and FIRM Panels. Retrieved on November 7, 2026.
3. Philadelphia Neighborhoods by Robert Cheetham (Azavea), published on OpenDataPhilly, licensed CC BY 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).
4. U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, 2010 Census Block Groups.
5. FEMA Glossary: Flood Zones.
6. FloodSmart (NFIP): Buy a Flood Insurance Policy.
7. FEMA Fact Sheet: Think you don’t need flood insurance? Think again (Jan. 21, 2025).
8. 44 CFR 61.11, Effective date and time of coverage.
9. OpenFEMA Terms and Conditions.
10. OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Policies v3.
11. OpenFEMA NFIP Redacted Claims v3.
12. USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities, community summaries.
13. Wildfire Risk to Communities methods.
14. U.S. Census Bureau TIGERweb, Transportation (primary, secondary and local roads).

Data as of September 8, 2026 (FEMA claims) and November 7, 2026 (flood zones). Page last updated November 7, 2026.