Natural hazards · Plainview

Plainview, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Plainview comes from inland flooding, 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 Plainview?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Plainview to be higher than in 82% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and heat waves.

Inland flooding53%Heat waves27%Earthquakes11%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Plainview faces

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

Inland flooding

53% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Heat waves

27% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold 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 Plainview flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Tulare County.

Disasters that hit Plainview

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PlainviewDeclared for Tulare County only

Tulare County has had 21 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. Plainview 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 Plainview’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Plainview. 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.