Natural hazards · Butte

Butte, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Butte comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 9 claims here since 1990.

FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 · OpenFEMA claims, aid & declarations

Expected damage

How exposed is Butte?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Butte to be higher than in 86% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and earthquakes.

Avalanches74%Earthquakes23%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Butte faces

Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how that compares with the rest of the country.

Avalanches

74% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

23% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Lower here

Inland floodingTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesLightningTsunamis

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesHeat wavesStrong windDroughtVolcanic activity

Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Butte flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Butte, from FEMA’s records.

9paid claims since 1990

$778Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19902026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Butte isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Matanuska-Susitna Borough.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1buildings retrofitted against wind

Disasters that hit Butte

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Matanuska-Susitna Borough shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Butte itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into ButteDeclared for Matanuska-Susitna Borough only

Matanuska-Susitna Borough has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Butte

Butte and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Buttemostly avalanchesVery high

Lazy Mountainmostly avalanchesVery high

Knik Rivermostly avalanchesVery high

About these numbers

How to read this page

An average, not a forecastFEMA’s National Risk Index estimates the damage 18 kinds of natural hazards cause in a typical year, from decades of records and models. A quiet decade can follow a bad year.

Compared by rate“Higher than N%” compares yearly damage as a share of what’s here, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings. Butte covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Butte’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Butte. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Butte total about $20.8M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025); OpenFEMA: NFIP redacted claims, multiple-loss properties, community status book and residential penetration rates, housing assistance (owners and renters), public assistance funded projects, hazard mitigation properties and disaster declarations. Census tracts: U.S. Census Bureau.