Natural hazards · Memphis

Memphis, AL natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Memphis?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Memphis to be higher than in 71% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding43%Tornadoes18%Earthquakes11%Hurricanes7%Heat waves6%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Memphis 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

Above average · higher than 72% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

18% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Earthquakes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Hurricanes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Heat waves

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 61% of U.S. places

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Memphis flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pickens County.

Disasters that hit Memphis

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Pickens County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Memphis itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into MemphisDeclared for Pickens County only

Pickens County has had 16 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. Memphis 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 Memphis’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Memphis. 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.