Natural hazards · Bluff Springs

Bluff Springs, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bluff Springs comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 48 claims here since 1979. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Bluff Springs?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bluff Springs to be higher than in 78% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves40%Inland flooding23%Drought17%Strong wind8%Heat waves6%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Bluff Springs faces

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

Cold waves

40% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

17% of expected damage

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times 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 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 Bluff Springs flood?

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

48paid claims since 1979

$327Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Bluff Springs 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 Bluff Springs

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Bluff SpringsDeclared for Cass County only

2008

Severe Storms and Flooding

$2K to the Township of Bluff Springs for repairs

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

Around Bluff Springs

Bluff Springs and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Beardstownmostly cold wavesVery high

Lynchburgmostly inland floodingVery high

Bluff Springsmostly cold wavesHigh

Sangamon Valleymostly cold wavesHigh

Browningmostly inland floodingHigh

Frederickmostly inland floodingHigh

Arenzvillemostly cold wavesHigh

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. Bluff Springs covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Bluff Springs’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Bluff Springs. 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 Bluff Springs total about $3.0M 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.