Natural hazards · Pine Knot

Pine Knot, KY natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Pine Knot comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Pine Knot?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Pine Knot to be higher than in 29% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves27%Inland flooding25%Tornadoes14%Strong wind9%Earthquakes5%Wildfire5%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Pine Knot faces

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

Cold waves

27% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 24% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

14% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 81 years in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Wildfire

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Pine Knot flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McCreary County.

Disasters that hit Pine Knot

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Pine KnotDeclared for McCreary County only

McCreary County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

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. Pine Knot 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 Pine Knot’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Pine Knot. 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.