Natural hazards · Mitchell

Mitchell, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Mitchell comes from hail, 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 Mitchell?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Mitchell to be higher than in 56% of U.S. communities, mostly from hail and inland flooding.

Hail27%Inland flooding23%Tornadoes18%Cold waves11%Drought7%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Mitchell faces

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

Hail

27% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% 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 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

11% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 31% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 45 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Mitchell flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Rice County.

Disasters that hit Mitchell

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MitchellDeclared for Rice County only

Rice County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Mitchell

Mitchell and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Wilsonmostly inland floodingHigh

Mitchellmostly hailModerate

Unionmostly hailModerate

Galtmostly hailModerate

Harrisonmostly hailModerate

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