Bodega Bay’s biggest natural hazard is earthquakes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bodega Bay comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Bodega Bay’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Bodega Bay flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Bodega Bay. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Bodega Bay isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Sonoma County.How exposed is Bodega Bay?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 90% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.
Rated higher than 910 of the 1,619 California towns we cover.
Bodega Bay is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Bodega Bay faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Earthquakes
Inland flooding
Wildfire
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Bodega Bay
Disasters that paid out in Bodega Bay itself (aid to households or repair grants to Bodega Bay) and its biggest flood years.
- 2017Wildfires18 households applied for aid$500 aid approved
Sonoma County has had 29 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.
Old photos of Bodega Bay after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Bodega Bay archive →Get ready for what Bodega Bay actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Bodega Bay and its neighbors
How storm and flood risk compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salmon Creek | Very high | landslides | 0 |
| Bodega Bay | Very high | earthquakes | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in December–February
The month each of Sonoma County’s 29 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Bodega Bay’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Bodega Bay.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Bodega Bay.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.