Natural hazards · Lafayette

Lafayette, KS natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Lafayette?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lafayette to be higher than in 83% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and inland flooding.

Wildfire29%Inland flooding28%Tornadoes19%Cold waves7%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Lafayette faces

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

Wildfire

29% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

19% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

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 Lafayette flood?

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

Disasters that hit Lafayette

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LafayetteDeclared for Chautauqua County only

Chautauqua County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Lafayette

Lafayette and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Longtonmostly inland floodingVery high

Elk Fallsmostly inland floodingVery high

Lafayettemostly wildfiresVery high

Centermostly wildfiresVery high

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