Natural hazards · Point Lay

Point Lay, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Point Lay comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Point Lay?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Point Lay to be higher than in 1% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves.

Cold waves83%Inland flooding8%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Point Lay faces

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

Cold waves

83% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 28 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningAvalanches

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 Point Lay flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: North Slope Borough.

Disasters that hit Point Lay

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for North Slope Borough shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Point Lay itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Point LayDeclared for North Slope Borough only

North Slope Borough has had 6 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

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. Point Lay 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 Point Lay’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Point Lay. 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.