Natural hazards · Dickens

Dickens, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Dickens comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Dickens?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Dickens to be higher than in 69% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and hail.

Inland flooding40%Hail28%Tornadoes11%Cold waves9%Drought7%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Dickens faces

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

Inland flooding

40% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Hail

28% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 23 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Dickens flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clay County.

Disasters that hit Dickens

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into DickensDeclared for Clay County only

2024

Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes

12 households applied for aid $31K aid approved

2009

Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm

$999 to the City of Dickens for repairs

Clay County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

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