Wales is calmer than 98% of U.S. communities
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wales comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Wales’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
How exposed is Wales?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 2% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves.
Calmer than 263 of the 352 Alaska towns we cover.
Wales is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Wales faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Cold waves
Inland flooding
Does Wales flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Wales. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Wales isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Nome Census Area.1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Wales
Disasters that paid out in Wales itself (aid to households or repair grants to the City of Wales) and its biggest flood years.
- 2004Severe Winter Storm, Tidal Surges and Flooding$5K to the City of Wales for repairs
Nome Census Area has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.
Old photos of Wales after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Wales archive →Get ready for what Wales actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Keep a shovel, a blanket and snacks in the car.
- Clear snow from furnace and dryer vents.
- Check on older neighbors when the power goes out.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Most disasters here begin in September–November
The month each of Nome Census Area’s 9 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Wales’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Wales.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Wales.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.