Salem is calmer than 75% of U.S. communities
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Salem comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Salem’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
How exposed is Salem?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 25% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and drought.
Calmer than 479 of the 674 Georgia towns we cover.
Salem is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
Does Salem flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Salem. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Salem isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Upson County.What Salem faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Drought
Tornadoes
Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Upson County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Salem itself in FEMA’s records.
Upson County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Get ready for what Salem actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- On a well? Know how deep it is and watch for sputtering.
- Follow the town’s watering limits.
- Fix drips: they add up.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Disasters here can come any time of year
The month each of Upson County’s 18 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Salem’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Salem.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Salem.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.