Natural hazards · Lake Mathews

Lake Mathews, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lake Mathews comes from wildfires, 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 Lake Mathews?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lake Mathews to be higher than in 100% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires.

Wildfire77%Inland flooding13%Earthquakes9%

By hazard

What Lake Mathews faces

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

Wildfire

77% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

13% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingIce stormsCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Lake Mathews flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Riverside County.

Disasters that hit Lake Mathews

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Lake MathewsDeclared for Riverside County only

Riverside County has had 61 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

Around Lake Mathews

Lake Mathews and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Lake Mathewsmostly wildfiresVery high

Mead Valleymostly wildfiresVery high

Woodcrestmostly inland floodingVery high

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. Lake Mathews 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 Lake Mathews’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Lake Mathews. 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.