Natural hazards · Gila Bend

Gila Bend, AZ natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Gila Bend comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 7 claims here since 1980.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Gila Bend?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Gila Bend to be higher than in 5% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and heat waves.

Inland flooding35%Heat waves28%Drought23%Earthquakes8%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Gila Bend faces

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

Inland flooding

35% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 10% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Heat waves

28% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about 21 times a year in the area

Drought

23% of expected damage

Recorded about 57 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Gila Bend flood?

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

7paid claims since 1980

$260Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19802026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Maricopa County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

34buildings floodproofed

Disasters that hit Gila Bend

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Gila BendDeclared for Maricopa County only

Maricopa County has had 23 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

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. Gila Bend 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 Gila Bend’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Gila Bend. 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.