Natural hazards · Riverside

Riverside, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Riverside comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 184 claims here since 1980.

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

How exposed is Riverside?

73
High
vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Riverside to be higher than in 73% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding61%Cold waves20%Tornadoes10%Heat waves5%Everything else4%
By hazard

What Riverside faces

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

Inland flooding

61% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places
Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Cold waves

20% of expected damage
Well below average · higher than 23% of U.S. places
Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Heat waves

5% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places
Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Riverside flood?

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

184paid claims since 1980
$4.4Mpaid to owners
0homes flooded more than once
19802026

Biggest named events

  • Hurricane Ike: 56 claims, $1.7M
  • Mid-spring storms: 52 claims, $1.9M
of homes in flood zones
are insured
of all homes
are insured
No community discount. Riverside isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Cook County.
Disasters that hit Riverside

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into RiversideDeclared for Cook County only
Cook County has had 21 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.
Around Riverside

Riverside and the towns around it

Lyons: High, mostly inland floodingLyons: Very high, mostly inland floodingRiverside: High, mostly inland floodingProviso: High, mostly inland floodingBrookfield: High, mostly inland floodingBerwyn: High, mostly inland floodingBerwyn: High, mostly inland floodingPalos: High, mostly inland floodingStickney: High, mostly inland floodingLa Grange: Moderate, mostly inland floodingLa Grange Park: High, mostly inland floodingSummit: High, mostly inland floodingChicago: Moderate, mostly inland floodingForest View: High, mostly inland floodingDowners Grove: Low, mostly inland floodingMcCook: Low, mostly inland floodingNorth Riverside: High, mostly inland floodingRiver Forest: High, mostly inland floodingRiver Forest: High, mostly inland floodingYork: Low, mostly inland floodingMaywood: High, mostly inland floodingLeyden: Moderate, mostly inland floodingMelrose Park: High, mostly inland floodingElmhurst: High, mostly inland floodingCicero: High, mostly inland floodingRiverside: High, mostly inland flooding RiversideLyonsLyonsRiversideProvisoBrookfieldBerwynBerwyn
Very lowLowModerateHighVery high
Lyonsmostly inland floodingVery high
Berwynmostly inland floodingHigh
Berwynmostly inland floodingHigh
Riversidemostly inland floodingHigh
Riversidemostly inland floodingHigh
Provisomostly inland floodingHigh
Lyonsmostly inland floodingHigh
Brookfieldmostly inland floodingHigh
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. Riverside covers 4 census tracts, combined by population.
Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Riverside’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Riverside. 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 Riverside total about $11.4M 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.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01