Natural hazards · Ketchum

Ketchum, ID natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ketchum comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 61 claims here since 1978. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ketchum?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ketchum to be higher than in 82% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches64%Inland flooding29%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Ketchum faces

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

Avalanches

64% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Inland flooding

29% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtTsunamis

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 Ketchum flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Ketchum, from FEMA’s records.

61paid claims since 1978

$577Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19782026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Blaine County.

Disasters that hit Ketchum

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into KetchumDeclared for Blaine County only

2017

Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

$163K to the City of Ketchum for repairs

Blaine County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires 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. Ketchum 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 Ketchum’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Ketchum. 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.