Natural hazards · Garden Plain

Garden Plain, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Garden Plain comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 99 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Garden Plain?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Garden Plain to be higher than in 54% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding54%Tornadoes13%Cold waves10%Drought9%Strong wind6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Garden Plain faces

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

Inland flooding

54% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 13 years in the area

Cold waves

10% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 18% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Drought

9% of expected damage

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Garden Plain flood?

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

99paid claims since 1979

$1.3Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Midwest Flooding: 17 claims, $202K
Mid-spring storms: 9 claims, $110K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Whiteside County.

Disasters that hit Garden Plain

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Garden PlainDeclared for Whiteside County only

Whiteside County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Garden Plain

Garden Plain and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Garden Plainmostly inland floodingModerate

Union Grovemostly inland floodingModerate

Albanymostly inland floodingModerate

Newtonmostly inland floodingModerate

Clintonmostly inland floodingModerate

Fultonmostly 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. Garden Plain covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Garden Plain’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Garden Plain. 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 Garden Plain total about $1.6M 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.