Natural hazards · Mountain View

Mountain View, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Mountain View comes from earthquakes, 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 Mountain View?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Mountain View to be higher than in 86% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes54%Inland flooding43%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Mountain View faces

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

Earthquakes

54% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

43% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Mountain View flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Contra Costa County.

Disasters that hit Mountain View

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Contra Costa County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Mountain View itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Mountain ViewDeclared for Contra Costa County only

Contra Costa County has had 17 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Mountain View

Mountain View and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Martinezmostly earthquakesVery high

Mountain Viewmostly earthquakesVery 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. Mountain View 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 Mountain View’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Mountain View. 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.