Natural hazards · Basalt

Basalt, ID natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Basalt?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Basalt to be higher than in 73% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding33%Cold waves24%Earthquakes18%Heat waves9%Wildfire8%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Basalt faces

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

Inland flooding

33% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

24% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Heat waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Wildfire

8% of expected damage

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

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamis

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 Basalt flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Bingham County.

Disasters that hit Basalt

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BasaltDeclared for Bingham County only

Bingham County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and hurricanes.

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