Natural hazards · Bowers

Bowers, DE natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bowers comes from coastal flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 67 claims here since 1980. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Bowers?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bowers to be higher than in 82% of U.S. communities, mostly from coastal flooding and inland flooding.

Coastal flooding37%Inland flooding26%Hurricanes13%Cold waves9%Drought6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Bowers faces

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

Coastal flooding

37% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

26% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 39% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hurricanes

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 10 years in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 50% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

6% of expected damage

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

AvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Bowers flood?

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

67paid claims since 1980

$533Kpaid to owners

9homes flooded more than once

19802026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Irene: 3 claims, $6K
December Storm - Nor'easter: 1 claim, $2K
Hurricane Sandy: 1 claim, $3K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (2) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kent County.

Disasters that hit Bowers

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Bowers itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Bowers.

Brought FEMA money into BowersDeclared for Kent County only

2003

Snow

$8K to the Town of Bowers for repairs

Kent County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and hurricanes.

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. Bowers 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 Bowers’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Bowers. 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.