Natural hazards · Wauponsee

Wauponsee, IL natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wauponsee comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 13 claims here since 1982. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Wauponsee?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wauponsee to be higher than in 81% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding60%Cold waves27%Tornadoes8%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Wauponsee faces

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

Inland flooding

60% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

27% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 22 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Wauponsee flood?

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

13paid claims since 1982

$201Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19822026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Ike: 4 claims, $81K
Mid-spring storms: 2 claims, $37K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Grundy County.

Disasters that hit Wauponsee

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Wauponsee itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Township of Wauponsee.

Brought FEMA money into WauponseeDeclared for Grundy County only

1999

Il-Winter Storm 1/1/99

$6K to the Township of Wauponsee for repairs

Grundy County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Wauponsee

Wauponsee and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Morrismostly inland floodingVery high

Eriennamostly inland floodingVery high

Wauponseemostly inland floodingVery high

Normanmostly inland floodingVery high

Mazonmostly inland floodingHigh

Goose Lakemostly inland floodingHigh

Morrismostly cold wavesModerate

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. Wauponsee covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Wauponsee’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Wauponsee. 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 Wauponsee total about $3.9M 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.