Natural hazards · Colchester

Colchester, CT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Colchester comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 1980.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Colchester?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Colchester to be higher than in 39% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and hurricanes.

Inland flooding56%Hurricanes31%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Colchester 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

Below average · higher than 41% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

31% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Colchester flood?

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

3paid claims since 1980

$6Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19802026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Colchester 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 Colchester

Colchester and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

East Hamptonmostly inland floodingModerate

Marlboroughmostly inland floodingModerate

Lebanonmostly inland floodingModerate

Colchestermostly inland floodingLow

East Haddammostly inland floodingLow

Salemmostly inland floodingLow

Hebronmostly inland floodingLow

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. Colchester covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Colchester’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Colchester. 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 Colchester total about $3.8M 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.