Natural hazards · Silver Lake

Silver Lake, KS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Silver Lake comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1993.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Silver Lake?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Silver Lake to be higher than in 55% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding56%Tornadoes17%Heat waves7%Everything else20%

By hazard

What Silver Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

56% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

17% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 14 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

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 Silver Lake flood?

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

2paid claims since 1993

$15Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19932026

Biggest named events

Midwest Flooding: 2 claims, $15K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

🏷️ 05% off flood insurance. Silver Lake is in FEMA’s Community Rating System (class 9) for its flood-proofing work.

Insurance rates: Shawnee County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

1flood-prone homes bought out and moved

Disasters that hit Silver Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Silver LakeDeclared for Shawnee County only

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

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. Silver Lake 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 Silver Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Silver Lake. 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.