Natural hazards · Snowflake

Snowflake, AZ natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Snowflake comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 4 claims here since 1978. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Snowflake?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Snowflake to be higher than in 15% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding75%Lightning13%Earthquakes6%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Snowflake faces

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

Inland flooding

75% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lightning

13% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 19% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 61% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong wind

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Snowflake flood?

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

4paid claims since 1978

$47Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19782026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Navajo County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1buildings floodproofed

Disasters that hit Snowflake

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into SnowflakeDeclared for Navajo County only

2004

Severe Storms and Flooding

$232K to the Town of Snowflake for repairs

Navajo County has had 17 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. Snowflake 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 Snowflake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Snowflake. 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.