Natural hazards · Ketchikan

Ketchikan, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ketchikan comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 2015. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ketchikan?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ketchikan to be higher than in 0% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches55%Inland flooding25%Tsunamis11%Earthquakes5%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Ketchikan faces

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

Avalanches

55% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 30 years in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 100 years in the area

Tsunamis

11% of expected damage

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

Earthquakes

5% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 45% of U.S. places

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTornadoesHailCold wavesHeat wavesStrong windDrought

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 Ketchikan flood?

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

3paid claims since 2015

$32Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20152026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ketchikan Gateway Borough.

Disasters that hit Ketchikan

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into KetchikanDeclared for Ketchikan Gateway Borough only

2024

Landslides

$1.7M to the City of Ketchikan for repairs

Ketchikan Gateway Borough has had 1 natural disaster declared since 1953, most often landslides.

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. Ketchikan covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Ketchikan’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Ketchikan. 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 Ketchikan total about $827K 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.