Natural hazards · Gustavus

Gustavus, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Gustavus comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Gustavus?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Gustavus to be higher than in 40% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and earthquakes.

Avalanches70%Earthquakes17%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Gustavus faces

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

Avalanches

70% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Earthquakes

17% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Lower here

Inland floodingCoastal floodingTornadoesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesLightningTsunamisVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

HurricanesHailHeat wavesStrong windDrought

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

Flood insurance claims

Does Gustavus flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Gustavus.

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. Gustavus 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 Gustavus’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Gustavus. 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.