Natural hazards · Lakeside

Lakeside, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lakeside comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is very low 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 Lakeside?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lakeside to be higher than in 17% of U.S. communities, mostly from tornadoes and inland flooding.

Tornadoes38%Inland flooding23%Cold waves17%Hail8%Strong wind7%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Lakeside faces

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

Tornadoes

38% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 61 years in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 6% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

17% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Hail

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Strong wind

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

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Lakeside flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Buena Vista County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Lakeside

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into LakesideDeclared for Buena Vista County only

2009

Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm

$7K to the City of Lakeside for repairs

2007

Snow

$2K to the City of Lakeside for repairs

Buena Vista County has had 20 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. Lakeside 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 Lakeside’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Lakeside. 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.