Looking to move to Kentucky, but are there any areas that don't flood? (Lexington: insurance, houses)

[debski123]

My husband and I are looking to leave CA to get away from the high cost of living, the tweakers, the noise, the fires, and the far left-minded way of thinking. We have been researching the state of Kentucky, particularly the south and central areas, but we are a bit worried about flooding. Cadiz, Eddyville, Central City, Greenville, Glasgow and Bowling Green are some of the places that have caught our eye. We are semi-retired, and here are the things we are looking for (or looking to avoid):
- No big cities and no immediate suburbs of those cities
- Nothing right along the Ohio River or any other big river
- No areas that have flooding issues on a regular and/or frequent basis
- Quiet, rural living - but not too far from civilization. We're trying to avoid neighborhoods where all the houses are right next to each other. Ideally we'd like an area where houses are well spread out, maybe even up to one acre of land, so we won't have to deal with potential noisy neighbors (we've had our share of all that coziness and NOISE here in CA...)
-Relatively close to a hospital and health care providers (we are at least 30 minutes of highway driving away from the nearest hospital where we live now, and we want to cut that distance in half).
- Reasonably close to a lake.

- We are more middle of the road conservatives quickly approaching retirement, and we're hoping to find a happy quiet new place to call home and go fishing once in awhile.

If anyone is familiar with any towns in Kentucky that you love and feel might be a good fit based on what we're looking for, we would be very appreciative of any and all suggestions. Thank you!

[kygman]

My wife is from Cadiz and I lived there for a few years. It's a nice town and there are plenty of places away from town you could find. It's about 8 miles from Lake Barkley (58,000 acre lake) and 20 miles from Kentucky Lake (largest man made lake east of the Mississippi River at 160,000+ acres). In between in the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, 170,000 acres of camping, hiking, biking, fishing, etc.
Cadiz has a hospital but it's more of a "band aid station". Anything more serious is sent to Jenny Stuart Hospital in Hopkinsville, about 20 miles east. Other big hospitals, if needed are across the lakes in Murray, Ky. or Paducah, Ky.
I-24 goes through Trigg County and can take you to Nashville, Tn., maybe an hour or so drive, or, with switching to a couple other interstates, you can get to St. Louis, Mo.
In the years BC (Before Covid), Cadiz was known for their country ham festival every October that included a 4,000 country ham biscuit. Hopefully, it will be back next year.
My step daughter and family just moved from the Cadiz area. They had a house with 14 acres about 10 miles south of town. He retired from the Army, stationed at nearby Ft. Campbell but they have moved to Pennsylvania to be closer to his family. Speaking of Ft. Campbell, you'll get used to all the helicopters and planes flying over all the time. This is all training area for the base.

No matter where you decide to move in Kentucky, welcome!

https://www.kentuckylake.com/
https://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/

[kygman]

Debski, I meant to tell you I'm a bank fisherman mainly on Kentucky Lake and have one problem right now, that I've mentioned before. Seems like all the fish have heard about social distancing and won't get within 6 ft. of my hook!

[NW Crow]

15-30 minutes outside Bowling Green (or other cities) seems reasonable. 45-60 minutes or more outside a real city might work for some and less well for others. I would generally not recommend being near just very small towns / pretty far from bigger cities unless you have previous experience around very small towns and liked it all things considered.

Find out realistic driving times by asking here or there or driving it yourself. Don't assume 55-60 mph the whole way. Maybe some drives will be; but crossroad stops, winding roads and just roads that are developed and have constant driveways will in some cases be rated and experienced to be a lot slower.

[censusdata]

Flood prone areas are well defined and avoided, unlike forest fires or tornadoes. Outside of a flood zone there will never be flood problems. Should be maps everywhere showing where FEMA defined flood zones area.

[marino760]

You can check a specific address here on the FEMA maps to see if you are in a flood zone. I used this resource extensively when I chose the location of where I wanted to buy. https://www.newfloodmap.com/?utm_sou...m_content=Home

I purchased in a small town on the Ohio River with a flood wall. It's only a one hour drive to either Lexington or Cincinnati. Land protected by walls and levies are not in flood zones and you do not need additional flood insurance. I also chose a house in an area that was never flooded due to it's elevation even during the catastrophic 1937 Ohio River flood. With that said, I love being just a 10 minute walk from the river park. Coming from dry sun scorched CA, it's an extraordinary and invigorating experience to watch the grand Ohio River slowly flow by. Before the Ohio meets the Mississippi, it is the largest river in the U.S. That's quite a water feature to live close to and one of the reasons I chose to buy a home there.

[flashfearless]

When I was growing up in Hardin count the *only* area prone to flood in that region was West Point.

[Crazee Cat Lady]

No flooding here in Lexington, at least in my part of the woods.

[Ted Bear]

No. I think there is even an ark being built in Kentucky.

[kygman]

Here in western Ky., the only areas prone to major flooding are right around the rivers (Ohio, Mississippi, and the Tennessee and Cumberland, below the dams. A little around the lakes but not that often.