Natural hazards · Middletown

Middletown, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Middletown comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Middletown?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Middletown to be higher than in 45% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and drought.

Inland flooding36%Drought22%Tornadoes10%Strong wind9%Hail9%Heat waves7%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Middletown faces

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

Inland flooding

36% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Drought

22% of expected damage

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 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 Middletown flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Des Moines County.

Disasters that hit Middletown

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MiddletownDeclared for Des Moines County only

Des Moines County has had 24 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. Middletown 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 Middletown’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Middletown. 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.