Natural hazards · Ashland

Ashland, AL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ashland comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ashland?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ashland to be higher than in 46% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding43%Tornadoes29%Cold waves9%Hurricanes5%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Ashland faces

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

Inland flooding

43% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

29% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 17 years in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Hurricanes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 18 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Ashland flood?

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

What’s been done with FEMA grants

17storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Ashland

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into AshlandDeclared for Clay County only

2020

Hurricane Zeta

$14K to the Town of Ashland for repairs

2004

Hurricane Ivan

9 households applied for aid $7K aid approved

2003

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

9 households applied for aid $39K aid approved

Clay County has had 21 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.

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