Natural hazards · Sandpoint

Sandpoint, ID natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sandpoint comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 7 claims here since 1982.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sandpoint?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sandpoint to be higher than in 56% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding80%Cold waves10%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Sandpoint faces

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

Inland flooding

80% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Sandpoint flood?

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

7paid claims since 1982

$75Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19822026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Bonner County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2flood-prone homes bought out and moved

Disasters that hit Sandpoint

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SandpointDeclared for Bonner County only

Bonner County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and fires.

Around Sandpoint

Sandpoint and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Dovermostly inland floodingModerate

Sandpointmostly inland floodingModerate

Ponderaymostly inland floodingModerate

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. Sandpoint covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Sandpoint’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Sandpoint. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Sandpoint total about $1.7M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.