Natural hazards · Montezuma

Montezuma, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Montezuma comes from drought, 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 Montezuma?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Montezuma to be higher than in 45% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and hail.

Drought35%Hail30%Cold waves14%Inland flooding8%Tornadoes7%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Montezuma faces

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

Drought

35% of expected damage

Recorded about 78 times a year in the area

Hail

30% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Cold waves

14% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 56% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

8% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 26% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years 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 Montezuma flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Gray County.

Disasters that hit Montezuma

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MontezumaDeclared for Gray County only

Gray County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Montezuma

Montezuma and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Mertillamostly droughtHigh

Crooked Creekmostly droughtHigh

Montezumamostly droughtModerate

Copelandmostly droughtModerate

East Hessmostly droughtModerate

Ingallsmostly droughtModerate

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. Montezuma covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Montezuma’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Montezuma. 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 Montezuma total about $7.2M 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.