Natural hazards · Alturas

Alturas, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Alturas 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 Alturas?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Alturas to be higher than in 69% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding77%Earthquakes9%Wildfire8%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Alturas faces

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

Inland flooding

77% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Earthquakes

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Wildfire

8% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Alturas flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Modoc County.

Disasters that hit Alturas

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into AlturasDeclared for Modoc County only

Modoc County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

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. Alturas 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 Alturas’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Alturas. 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.