Natural hazards · Bear Valley

Bear Valley, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bear Valley comes from avalanches, 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 Bear Valley?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bear Valley to be higher than in 88% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches38%Inland flooding29%Wildfire24%Earthquakes7%Everything else2%

By hazard

What Bear Valley faces

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

Avalanches

38% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Inland flooding

29% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Wildfire

24% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

7% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesDroughtTsunamis

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 Valley flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Alpine County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1buildings floodproofed

Disasters that hit Bear Valley

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Bear ValleyDeclared for Alpine County only

Alpine County has had 13 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 Valley 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 Valley’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Bear Valley. 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.