Natural hazards · Rio Oso

Rio Oso, CA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Rio Oso comes from drought, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Rio Oso?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Rio Oso to be higher than in 44% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought.

Drought79%Inland flooding11%Earthquakes8%Everything else2%

By hazard

What Rio Oso faces

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

Drought

79% of expected damage

Recorded about 65 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

11% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic 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 Rio Oso flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Sutter County.

Disasters that hit Rio Oso

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Rio OsoDeclared for Sutter County only

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

Around Rio Oso

Rio Oso and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Plumas Lakemostly inland floodingHigh

Rio Osomostly droughtModerate

Trowbridgemostly droughtModerate

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