Natural hazards · Punaluu

Punaluu, HI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Punaluu comes from tsunamis, 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 Punaluu?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Punaluu to be higher than in 98% of U.S. communities, mostly from tsunamis and inland flooding.

Tsunamis53%Inland flooding41%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Punaluu faces

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

Tsunamis

53% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

41% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTornadoesHailWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic 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 Punaluu flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Punaluu.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Honolulu County.

Disasters that hit Punaluu

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Honolulu County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Punaluu itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into PunaluuDeclared for Honolulu County only

Honolulu County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods 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. Punaluu 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 Punaluu’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Punaluu. 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.