Natural hazards · Illinois

Illinois, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Illinois comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Illinois?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Illinois to be higher than in 57% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding30%Tornadoes18%Drought14%Hail13%Cold waves12%Strong wind7%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Illinois faces

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

Inland flooding

30% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

18% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

14% of expected damage

Recorded about 59 times a year in the area

Hail

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat 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 Illinois flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Rush County.

Disasters that hit Illinois

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into IllinoisDeclared for Rush County only

Rush County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Illinois

Illinois and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Illinoismostly inland floodingModerate

Big Timbermostly inland floodingModerate

Pleasantdalemostly inland floodingModerate

Lone Starmostly inland floodingModerate

Freedommostly inland floodingModerate

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