Natural hazards · Vandenberg AFB

Vandenberg AFB, CA natural hazards

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

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Vandenberg AFB to be higher than in 54% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding56%Earthquakes25%Wildfire14%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Vandenberg AFB faces

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

Inland flooding

56% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 52% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

25% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Wildfire

14% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Vandenberg AFB flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Santa Barbara County.

Disasters that hit Vandenberg AFB

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Santa Barbara County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Vandenberg AFB itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Vandenberg AFBDeclared for Santa Barbara County only

Santa Barbara County has had 35 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

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