Natural hazards · Bret Harte

Bret Harte, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bret Harte comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 2000.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Bret Harte?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bret Harte to be higher than in 38% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes56%Inland flooding30%Heat waves9%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Bret Harte faces

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

Earthquakes

56% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

30% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 20% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Heat waves

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherWildfireStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesLandslidesAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Bret Harte flood?

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

2paid claims since 2000

$12Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20002026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Stanislaus County.

Disasters that hit Bret Harte

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Bret HarteDeclared for Stanislaus County only

Stanislaus County has had 18 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. Bret Harte covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Bret Harte’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Bret Harte. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Bret Harte total about $802K a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.