Natural hazards · Sells

Sells, AZ natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sells comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sells?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sells to be higher than in 91% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and heat waves.

Inland flooding67%Heat waves20%Wildfire10%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Sells faces

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

Inland flooding

67% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Heat waves

20% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Wildfire

10% of expected damage

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

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailWinter weatherEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingIce stormsCold wavesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Sells flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Sells 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 Sells

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SellsDeclared for Pima County only

Pima County has had 11 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. Sells 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 Sells’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Sells. 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.