Natural hazards · Beardstown

Beardstown, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Beardstown comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 28 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Beardstown?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Beardstown to be higher than in 91% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves43%Inland flooding38%Heat waves6%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Beardstown faces

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

Cold waves

43% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 57% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

38% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Heat waves

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Beardstown flood?

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

28paid claims since 1979

$183Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Ike: 1 claim, $10K
Mid-spring storms: 1 claim, $16K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cass County.

Disasters that hit Beardstown

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BeardstownDeclared for Cass County only

Cass County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Beardstown

Beardstown and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Beardstownmostly cold wavesVery high

Hagenermostly cold wavesHigh

Bluff Springsmostly cold wavesHigh

Frederickmostly inland floodingHigh

Bainbridgemostly inland floodingHigh

Cooperstownmostly 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. Beardstown covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Beardstown’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Beardstown. 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 Beardstown total about $4.6M 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.