Natural hazards · Vinegar Hill

Vinegar Hill, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Vinegar Hill comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Vinegar Hill?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Vinegar Hill to be higher than in 32% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding42%Cold waves23%Tornadoes18%Hail7%Strong wind5%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Vinegar Hill faces

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

Inland flooding

42% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

23% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 30% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 24 years in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Vinegar Hill flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Jo Daviess County.

Disasters that hit Vinegar Hill

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Jo Daviess County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Vinegar Hill itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Vinegar HillDeclared for Jo Daviess County only

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

Around Vinegar Hill

Vinegar Hill and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Rawlinsmostly inland floodingModerate

Council Hillmostly inland floodingLow

Bentonmostly cold wavesLow

Vinegar Hillmostly inland floodingLow

Menomineemostly inland floodingLow

Hazel Greenmostly inland floodingVery low

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