Natural hazards · Harris

Harris, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Harris comes from hail, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Harris?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Harris to be higher than in 38% of U.S. communities, mostly from hail and inland flooding.

Hail27%Inland flooding26%Cold waves16%Tornadoes14%Drought7%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Harris faces

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

Hail

27% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

26% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

16% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

14% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 21 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 Harris flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Osceola County.

Disasters that hit Harris

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into HarrisDeclared for Osceola County only

2024

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

7 households applied for aid $36K aid approved

2013

Severe Winter Storm

$22K to the City of Harris for repairs

2007

Snow

$1K to the City of Harris for repairs

Osceola County has had 13 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. Harris 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 Harris’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Harris. 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.