Natural hazards · Wards Grove

Wards Grove, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wards Grove 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 Wards Grove?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wards Grove to be higher than in 34% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding47%Cold waves16%Tornadoes13%Drought8%Hail8%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Wards Grove faces

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

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 46% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

16% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Drought

8% of expected damage

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Hail

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Wards Grove flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Wards Grove 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 Wards Grove

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Wards GroveDeclared for Jo Daviess County only

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

Around Wards Grove

Wards Grove and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Wards Grovemostly inland floodingLow

Stocktonmostly inland floodingLow

Noramostly inland floodingLow

Berremanmostly inland floodingLow

Kentmostly 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. Wards Grove 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 Wards Grove’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Wards Grove. 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.