Natural hazards · Utqiaġvik

Utqiaġvik, AK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Utqiaġvik 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 Utqiaġvik?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Utqiaġvik to be higher than in 0% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves.

Cold waves86%Inland flooding9%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Utqiaġvik faces

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

Cold waves

86% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 28 years in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslides

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTornadoesHailHeat wavesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Utqiaġvik flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Utqiaġvik 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 Utqiaġvik

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into UtqiaġvikDeclared 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. Utqiaġvik covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Utqiaġvik’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Utqiaġvik. 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 Utqiaġvik total about $1.4M 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.