Natural hazards · Catalina

Catalina, AZ natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Catalina comes from wildfires, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1983.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Catalina?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Catalina to be higher than in 85% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and heat waves.

Wildfire50%Heat waves25%Inland flooding24%Everything else2%

By hazard

What Catalina faces

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

Wildfire

50% of expected damage

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

Heat waves

25% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

24% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailWinter weatherEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingIce stormsCold wavesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Catalina flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Catalina, from FEMA’s records.

2paid claims since 1983

$8Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19832026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pima County.

Disasters that hit Catalina

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into CatalinaDeclared for Pima County only

Pima County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

Around Catalina

Catalina and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Catalinamostly wildfiresVery high

Oro Valleymostly inland floodingHigh

Saddlebrookemostly inland floodingHigh

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. Catalina covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Catalina’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Catalina. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Catalina total about $2.4M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.