Natural hazards · Lancaster

Lancaster, IN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lancaster comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 2003.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Lancaster?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lancaster to be higher than in 35% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding57%Tornadoes22%Strong wind7%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Lancaster faces

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

Inland flooding

57% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

22% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Lancaster flood?

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

2paid claims since 2003

$41Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20032026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Wells County.

Disasters that hit Lancaster

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LancasterDeclared for Wells County only

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

Around Lancaster

Lancaster and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Rockcreekmostly inland floodingModerate

Kirklandmostly inland floodingModerate

Preblemostly inland floodingLow

Harrisonmostly inland floodingLow

Jeffersonmostly inland floodingLow

Lancastermostly inland floodingLow

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. Lancaster covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Lancaster’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Lancaster. 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 Lancaster total about $1.6M 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.