Natural hazards · Palmer

Palmer, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Palmer comes from drought, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Palmer?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

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

Drought58%Inland flooding16%Cold waves9%Tornadoes8%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Palmer faces

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

Drought

58% of expected damage

Recorded about 16 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

16% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 46% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce 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 Palmer flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pocahontas County.

Disasters that hit Palmer

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into PalmerDeclared for Pocahontas County only

2010

Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes

$375 to the City of Palmer for repairs

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