Natural hazards · Berlin

Berlin, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Berlin comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Berlin?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Berlin to be higher than in 33% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding48%Tornadoes19%Drought9%Cold waves8%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Berlin faces

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

Inland flooding

48% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 37% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

19% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Drought

9% of expected damage

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Cold waves

8% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 17% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Berlin flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Bureau County.

Disasters that hit Berlin

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into BerlinDeclared for Bureau County only

1999

Il-Winter Storm 1/1/99

$3K to the Township of Berlin for repairs

Bureau County has had 15 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Berlin

Berlin and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Berlinmostly inland floodingLow

Selbymostly inland floodingLow

Dovermostly inland floodingLow

La Moillemostly inland floodingLow

Westfieldmostly inland floodingLow

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