Natural hazards · Great Bend

Great Bend, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Great Bend comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 396 claims here since 1979. 7 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Great Bend?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Tornadoes33%Inland flooding23%Cold waves12%Strong wind9%Hail9%Heat waves5%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Great Bend faces

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

Tornadoes

33% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 19% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 34% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Heat waves

5% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Great Bend flood?

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

396paid claims since 1979

$2.1Mpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Midwest Flooding: 3 claims, $6K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Barton County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Great Bend

7 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Great BendDeclared for Barton County only

2023

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

$980K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

2021

Severe Storms and Straight Line Winds

$113K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

2019

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

$803K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

2017

Severe Winter Storm

$114K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

2013

Snowstorm

$19K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

2007

Severe Winter Storms

$348K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

2007

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

156 households applied for aid $171K aid approved $755K to the City of Great Bend for repairs

Barton County has had 25 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Great Bend

Great Bend and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Comanchemostly inland floodingModerate

Buffalomostly hailModerate

Great Bendmostly tornadoesLow

South Bendmostly tornadoesLow

Libertymostly tornadoesLow

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. Great Bend covers 4 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Great Bend’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Great Bend. 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 Great Bend total about $6.4M 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.