Garden’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Garden comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Garden’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Garden flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Garden. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Garden isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Cherokee County.How exposed is Garden?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 72% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.
Rated higher than 1,612 of the 1,995 Kansas towns we cover.
Garden is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Garden faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Tornadoes
Cold waves
Strong wind
Heat waves
3 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Garden
Disasters that paid out in Garden itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Township of Garden) and its biggest flood years.
- 2013Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding$33K to the Township of Garden for repairs
- 2009Severe Storms, Flooding, Straight-Line Winds, and Tornadoes$3K to the Township of Garden for repairs
- 2007Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding$14K to the Township of Garden for repairs
Cherokee County has had 23 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.
Old photos of Garden after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Garden archive →Get ready for what Garden actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Garden and its neighbors
Garden ranks 3rd calmest of 6 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baxter Springs | High | inland flooding | 23 |
| Garden | High | inland flooding | 0 |
| Lowell | High | inland flooding | 24 |
| Riverton | High | inland flooding | 0 |
| Spring Valley | High | inland flooding | 0 |
| Galena | Moderate | inland flooding | 1 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in April–June
The month each of Cherokee County’s 23 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Garden’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Garden.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Garden.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.