Natural hazards · Bethel

Bethel, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bethel comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Bethel?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bethel to be higher than in 34% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves25%Inland flooding18%Heat waves15%Drought13%Strong wind10%Tornadoes9%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Bethel faces

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

Cold waves

25% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 47% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

18% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Heat waves

15% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Drought

13% of expected damage

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Strong wind

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Bethel flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McDonough County.

Disasters that hit Bethel

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BethelDeclared for McDonough County only

McDonough County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and severe storms.

Around Bethel

Bethel and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Chalmersmostly inland floodingModerate

Industrymostly droughtModerate

Brooklynmostly cold wavesModerate

Bethelmostly cold wavesLow

Lamoinemostly cold wavesLow

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