Natural hazards · Canaan

Canaan, CT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Canaan comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 1984.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Canaan?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Canaan to be higher than in 62% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding77%Hurricanes10%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Canaan faces

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

Inland flooding

77% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingTsunamisVolcanic 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 Canaan flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Canaan, from FEMA’s records.

3paid claims since 1984

$11Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19842026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Irene: 1 claim, $4K

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: .

Around Canaan

Canaan and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

North Canaanmostly inland floodingHigh

Cornwallmostly inland floodingHigh

Canaanmostly inland floodingHigh

Norfolkmostly inland floodingModerate

Salisburymostly inland floodingModerate

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. Canaan covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Canaan’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Canaan. 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 Canaan total about $521K 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.