Natural hazards · Austin

Austin, AR natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Austin comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 4 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Austin?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Austin to be higher than in 94% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding59%Tornadoes13%Earthquakes12%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Austin faces

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

Inland flooding

59% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

13% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 78 years in the area

Earthquakes

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong 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 Austin flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Lonoke County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

13storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Austin

4 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into AustinDeclared for Lonoke County only

2023

Severe Storms and Tornadoes

18 households applied for aid $2K aid approved

2011

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Associated Flooding

4 households applied for aid $2K aid approved

2008

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

3 households applied for aid $29K aid approved

2003

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

1 household applied for aid

Lonoke County has had 25 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and tornadoes.

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