Natural hazards · Cowan

Cowan, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cowan comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cowan?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cowan to be higher than in 50% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes40%Inland flooding31%Drought24%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Cowan faces

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

Earthquakes

40% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

31% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Drought

24% of expected damage

Recorded about 66 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Cowan flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Cowan 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 Cowan

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into CowanDeclared 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. Cowan 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 Cowan’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Cowan. 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.