Natural hazards · Galena

Galena, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Galena comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 48 claims here since 1992. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Galena?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Galena to be higher than in 56% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and avalanches.

Cold waves60%Avalanches16%Wildfire13%Inland flooding5%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Galena faces

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

Cold waves

60% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Avalanches

16% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 0% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 30 years in the area

Wildfire

13% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

5% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 5% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 100 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesIce stormsWinter weatherEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesHailHeat wavesStrong windDroughtTsunamisVolcanic activity

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.

Flood insurance claims

Does Galena flood?

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

48paid claims since 1992

$3.4Mpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19922026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (1) ■ flooded 2+ times

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

49homes raised above flood level

Disasters that hit Galena

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Galena itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Galena.

Brought FEMA money into GalenaDeclared for Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area only

2023

Flooding

$238K to the City of Galena for repairs

2013

Flooding

194 households applied for aid $2.3M aid approved $8.6M to the City of Galena for repairs

Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area has had 17 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

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. Galena is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

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

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.

Galena, AK natural hazards

How exposed is Galena?

What Galena faces

Cold waves

Avalanches

Wildfire

Inland flooding

Lower here

Not a risk here

Does Galena flood?

Homes that flooded again and again

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Flooding

Flooding

How to read this page

Where to, neighbor?

Matches

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