Natural hazards · Blue Lake

Blue Lake, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Blue Lake comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 1995.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Blue Lake?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Blue Lake to be higher than in 87% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding47%Earthquakes45%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Blue Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

45% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesDroughtTsunamisVolcanic 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 Blue Lake flood?

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

1paid claims since 1995

$8Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19952026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Humboldt County.

Disasters that hit Blue Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Blue LakeDeclared for Humboldt County only

Humboldt County has had 23 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. Blue Lake 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 Blue Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Blue Lake. 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.