Natural hazards · Downs

Downs, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Downs comes from hail, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Downs?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Downs to be higher than in 69% of U.S. communities, mostly from hail and inland flooding.

Hail33%Inland flooding29%Drought12%Strong wind10%Tornadoes8%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Downs faces

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

Hail

33% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

29% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

12% of expected damage

Recorded about 38 times a year in the area

Strong wind

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Downs flood?

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

Disasters that hit Downs

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into DownsDeclared for Osborne County only

Osborne County has had 16 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. Downs 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 Downs’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Downs. 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.