Natural hazards · Whittier

Whittier, AK natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Whittier?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Whittier to be higher than in 83% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and earthquakes.

Avalanches60%Earthquakes21%Cold waves13%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Whittier faces

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

Avalanches

60% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

21% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Cold waves

13% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

Inland floodingCoastal floodingTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesLightningTsunamis

Not a risk here

HurricanesHeat wavesStrong windDroughtVolcanic activity

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

Flood insurance claims

Does Whittier flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: .

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