Natural hazards · Waddams

Waddams, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Waddams 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 Waddams?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding54%Tornadoes14%Hail9%Cold waves9%Strong wind5%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Waddams faces

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

Inland flooding

54% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

14% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 13 years in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 26% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% 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 Waddams flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Stephenson County.

Disasters that hit Waddams

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WaddamsDeclared for Stephenson County only

Stephenson County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Waddams

Waddams and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Harlemmostly inland floodingLow

Waddamsmostly inland floodingLow

Buckeyemostly inland floodingLow

West Pointmostly inland floodingLow

Winslowmostly inland floodingLow

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