Natural hazards · Liberal

Liberal, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Liberal comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 14 claims here since 1982.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Liberal?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Liberal to be higher than in 25% of U.S. communities, mostly from tornadoes and inland flooding.

Tornadoes31%Inland flooding22%Cold waves16%Strong wind9%Hail9%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Liberal faces

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

Tornadoes

31% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

22% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 10% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

16% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Liberal flood?

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

14paid claims since 1982

$23Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19822026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Seward County.

Disasters that hit Liberal

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LiberalDeclared for Seward County only

Seward County has had 10 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Liberal

Liberal and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Fargomostly droughtHigh

Sewardmostly droughtHigh

Liberalmostly 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. Liberal covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Liberal’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Liberal. 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 Liberal total about $1.7M 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.