Natural hazards · Mount Sterling

Mount Sterling, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Mount Sterling comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 27 claims here since 1982. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Mount Sterling?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Mount Sterling to be higher than in 44% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and heat waves.

Cold waves29%Heat waves22%Inland flooding21%Strong wind8%Drought7%Tornadoes7%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Mount Sterling faces

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

Cold waves

29% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Heat waves

22% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 54% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce 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 Mount Sterling flood?

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

27paid claims since 1982

$304Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19822026

Biggest named events

Mid-spring storms: 3 claims, $113K
Midwest Flooding: 3 claims, $18K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Brown County.

Disasters that hit Mount Sterling

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Mount SterlingDeclared for Brown County only

2011

Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm

$3K to the Township of Mount Sterling for repairs

Brown County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Mount Sterling

Mount Sterling and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Leemostly inland floodingModerate

Elkhornmostly inland floodingModerate

Missourimostly inland floodingModerate

Cooperstownmostly inland floodingModerate

Mount Sterlingmostly cold wavesModerate

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. Mount Sterling covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Mount Sterling’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Mount Sterling. 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 Mount Sterling total about $3.2M 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.