Natural hazards · Potomac Park

Potomac Park, CA natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Potomac Park?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Potomac Park to be higher than in 68% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes68%Inland flooding21%Heat waves11%

By hazard

What Potomac Park faces

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

Earthquakes

68% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 27% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Heat waves

11% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Potomac Park flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kern County.

Disasters that hit Potomac Park

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Potomac ParkDeclared for Kern County only

Kern County has had 37 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

Around Potomac Park

Potomac Park and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Potomac Parkmostly earthquakesHigh

Bakersfieldmostly earthquakesHigh

East Bakersfieldmostly earthquakesModerate

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. Potomac Park covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Potomac Park’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Potomac Park. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Potomac Park total about $3.3M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.