Natural hazards · Portland

Portland, IA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Portland 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 Portland?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Portland to be higher than in 52% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding47%Tornadoes30%Cold waves10%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Portland faces

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

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 64% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

30% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 81 years in the area

Cold waves

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

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 Portland flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cerro Gordo County.

Disasters that hit Portland

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Cerro Gordo County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Portland itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into PortlandDeclared for Cerro Gordo County only

Cerro Gordo 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. Portland 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 Portland’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Portland. 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.