Natural hazards · Pontoon Beach

Pontoon Beach, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Pontoon Beach comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 29 claims here since 1995.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Pontoon Beach?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Pontoon Beach to be higher than in 82% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding52%Earthquakes18%Tornadoes12%Heat waves7%Cold waves7%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Pontoon Beach faces

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

Inland flooding

52% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 49 years in the area

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesStrong 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 Pontoon Beach flood?

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

29paid claims since 1995

$125Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19952026

Biggest named events

Early winter storms: 11 claims, $70K
Central U.S. April Flooding: 1 claim, $690

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Madison County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Pontoon Beach

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Pontoon BeachDeclared for Madison County only

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

Around Pontoon Beach

Pontoon Beach and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Granite Citymostly inland floodingVery high

Nameokimostly inland floodingVery high

Granite Citymostly inland floodingVery high

Pontoon Beachmostly inland floodingVery high

Madisonmostly inland floodingVery high

Chouteaumostly inland floodingHigh

Mitchellmostly inland floodingHigh

Collinsvillemostly inland floodingModerate

Edwardsvillemostly earthquakesModerate

Edwardsvillemostly inland floodingModerate

Glen Carbonmostly 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. Pontoon Beach 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 Pontoon Beach’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Pontoon Beach. 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.