Natural hazards · Pistakee Highlands

Pistakee Highlands, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Pistakee Highlands comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 90 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Pistakee Highlands?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Pistakee Highlands to be higher than in 86% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding69%Cold waves15%Tornadoes12%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Pistakee Highlands faces

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

Inland flooding

69% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

15% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 31% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

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

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce 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 Pistakee Highlands flood?

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

90paid claims since 1979

$763Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Mid-spring storms: 16 claims, $238K
Midwest Flooding: 6 claims, $23K
Tropical Storm Erin: 1 claim, $2K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McHenry County.

Disasters that hit Pistakee Highlands

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Pistakee HighlandsDeclared for McHenry County only

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

Around Pistakee Highlands

Pistakee Highlands and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Pistakee Highlandsmostly inland floodingVery high

Johnsburgmostly inland floodingModerate

Spring Grovemostly inland floodingLow

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. Pistakee Highlands covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Pistakee Highlands’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Pistakee Highlands. 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 Pistakee Highlands total about $1.8M 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.