Bon Secour’s biggest natural hazard is hurricanes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bon Secour comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 5 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Bon Secour’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Bon Secour flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Bon Secour. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Bon Secour isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Baldwin County.How exposed is Bon Secour?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 96% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and inland flooding.
Rated higher than 590 of the 594 Alabama towns we cover.
Bon Secour is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Bon Secour faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Inland flooding
5 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Bon Secour
Disasters that paid out in Bon Secour itself (aid to households or repair grants to Bon Secour) and its biggest flood years.
- 2020Hurricane Sally121 households applied for aid$163K aid approved
- 2014Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding11 households applied for aid$29K aid approved
- 2005Hurricane Katrina31 households applied for aid$46K aid approved
- 2005Hurricane Dennis6 households applied for aid$2K aid approved
- 2004Hurricane Ivan204 households applied for aid$361K aid approved
Baldwin County has had 31 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Old photos of Bon Secour after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Bon Secour archive →Get ready for what Bon Secour actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- 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 July–September
The month each of Baldwin County’s 31 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 Bon Secour’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Bon Secour.
- 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 Bon Secour.
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. Weather alerts: National Weather Service. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.