Natural hazards · Gateway

Gateway, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Gateway comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 2012.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Gateway?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Gateway to be higher than in 91% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes.

Earthquakes92%Inland flooding6%Everything else2%

By hazard

What Gateway faces

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

Earthquakes

92% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

6% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 2% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 100 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesLightningTsunamis

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTornadoesHeat wavesStrong windDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic 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 Gateway flood?

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

1paid claims since 2012

$3Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20122026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Gateway 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.

Disasters that hit Gateway

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into GatewayDeclared for Matanuska-Susitna Borough only

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

Around Gateway

Gateway and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Wasillamostly earthquakesVery high

Knik-Fairviewmostly earthquakesVery high

South Lakesmostly earthquakesVery high

Gatewaymostly earthquakesVery high

Farm Loopmostly 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. Gateway covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Gateway’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Gateway. 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 Gateway total about $12.2M 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.