Natural hazards · Petaluma Center

Petaluma Center, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Petaluma Center 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 Petaluma Center?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Petaluma Center to be higher than in 94% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes43%Inland flooding33%Wildfire23%

By hazard

What Petaluma Center faces

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

Earthquakes

43% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

33% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Wildfire

23% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic 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 Petaluma Center flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Petaluma Center 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.

Disasters that hit Petaluma Center

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Petaluma CenterDeclared for Sonoma County only

Sonoma County has had 29 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. Petaluma Center 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 Petaluma Center’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Petaluma Center. 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.