Natural hazards · Upper Bear Creek

Upper Bear Creek, CO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Upper Bear Creek comes from avalanches, 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 Upper Bear Creek?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Upper Bear Creek to be higher than in 97% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and wildfires.

Avalanches70%Wildfire19%Inland flooding6%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Upper Bear Creek faces

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

Avalanches

70% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Wildfire

19% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesHeat wavesDroughtTsunamis

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 Upper Bear Creek flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Upper Bear Creek.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clear Creek County.

Disasters that hit Upper Bear Creek

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Clear Creek County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Upper Bear Creek itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Upper Bear CreekDeclared for Clear Creek County only

Clear Creek County has had 6 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter 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. Upper Bear Creek 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 Upper Bear Creek’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Upper Bear Creek. 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.