Natural hazards · Batavia

Batavia, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Batavia comes from drought, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Batavia?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Batavia to be higher than in 33% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and inland flooding.

Drought27%Inland flooding26%Tornadoes12%Heat waves12%Strong wind7%Hail7%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Batavia faces

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

Drought

27% of expected damage

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

26% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 28% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Heat waves

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Batavia flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Jefferson County.

Disasters that hit Batavia

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BataviaDeclared for Jefferson County only

Jefferson County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

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