Natural hazards · Lafayette

Lafayette, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lafayette comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Lafayette?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lafayette to be higher than in 58% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding65%Tornadoes11%Cold waves9%Hail5%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Lafayette faces

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

Inland flooding

65% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 20% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Hail

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Lafayette flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ogle County.

Disasters that hit Lafayette

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LafayetteDeclared for Ogle County only

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

Around Lafayette

Lafayette and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Flaggmostly inland floodingModerate

Lafayettemostly inland floodingModerate

Taylormostly inland floodingModerate

Pine Rockmostly inland floodingModerate

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