Natural hazards · Sterling Ranch

Sterling Ranch, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sterling Ranch comes from wildfires, 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 Sterling Ranch?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sterling Ranch to be higher than in 87% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and inland flooding.

Wildfire66%Inland flooding17%Tornadoes6%Hail6%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Sterling Ranch faces

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

Wildfire

66% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

17% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 23% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 38 years in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamis

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 Sterling Ranch flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Douglas County.

Disasters that hit Sterling Ranch

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Sterling RanchDeclared for Douglas County only

Douglas County has had 11 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. Sterling Ranch 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 Sterling Ranch’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Sterling Ranch. 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.