Natural hazards · Cherokee

Cherokee, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cherokee comes from drought, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cherokee?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cherokee to be higher than in 65% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and inland flooding.

Drought36%Inland flooding31%Tornadoes11%Cold waves10%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Cherokee faces

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

Drought

36% of expected damage

Recorded about 22 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

31% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

10% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 42% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce 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 Cherokee flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Crawford County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Cherokee

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into CherokeeDeclared for Crawford County only

2009

Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes

$73K to the City of Cherokee for repairs

2005

Severe Storms and Flooding

$8K to the City of Cherokee for repairs

Crawford County has had 21 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

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. Cherokee 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 Cherokee’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Cherokee. 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.