Natural hazards · Spruce Pine

Spruce Pine, AL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Spruce Pine comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Spruce Pine?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Spruce Pine to be higher than in 53% of U.S. communities, mostly from tornadoes and inland flooding.

Tornadoes37%Inland flooding26%Cold waves19%Earthquakes8%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Spruce Pine faces

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

Tornadoes

37% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 13 years in the area

Inland flooding

26% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

19% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat 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 Spruce Pine flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Franklin County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

11storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Spruce Pine

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Spruce Pine itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Spruce Pine.

Brought FEMA money into Spruce PineDeclared for Franklin County only

2011

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Straight-Line Winds, and Flooding

31 households applied for aid $670 aid approved

2004

Hurricane Ivan

7 households applied for aid $4K aid approved

Franklin County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and hurricanes.

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. Spruce Pine 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 Spruce Pine’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Spruce Pine. 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.