Natural hazards · Bear Creek

Bear Creek, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bear Creek 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 Bear Creek?

High

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding53%Drought27%Earthquakes13%Heat waves5%Everything else1%

By hazard

What Bear Creek faces

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

Inland flooding

53% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Drought

27% of expected damage

Recorded about 68 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Heat waves

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherWildfireStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesLandslidesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Bear Creek flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Merced County.

Disasters that hit Bear Creek

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Bear CreekDeclared for Merced County only

Merced County has had 16 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. Bear Creek 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 Bear Creek’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Bear Creek. 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.