Natural hazards · Fort Defiance

Fort Defiance, AZ natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fort Defiance 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 Fort Defiance?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fort Defiance to be higher than in 64% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding64%Lightning13%Cold waves12%Wildfire6%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Fort Defiance faces

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

Inland flooding

64% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lightning

13% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 21% of U.S. places

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 20 years in the area

Wildfire

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtTsunamis

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 Fort Defiance flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Apache County.

Disasters that hit Fort Defiance

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Fort DefianceDeclared for Apache County only

Apache County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

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