Natural hazards · Melrose

Melrose, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Melrose 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 Melrose?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Melrose to be higher than in 46% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding43%Drought14%Earthquakes14%Cold waves8%Tornadoes8%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Melrose faces

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

Inland flooding

43% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

14% of expected damage

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

14% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Cold waves

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 50% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 5 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong 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 Melrose flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clark County.

Disasters that hit Melrose

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MelroseDeclared for Clark County only

Clark County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Melrose

Melrose and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Prairiemostly inland floodingHigh

Orangemostly inland floodingModerate

Melrosemostly inland floodingModerate

Andersonmostly inland floodingModerate

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