Natural hazards · Bowling Green

Bowling Green, MD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bowling Green comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 1996.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Bowling Green?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bowling Green to be higher than in 13% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding60%Heat waves14%Strong wind9%Tornadoes5%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Bowling Green faces

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

Inland flooding

60% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Heat waves

14% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 32% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 61% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 36% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingTsunamisVolcanic 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 Bowling Green flood?

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

1paid claims since 1996

$16Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19962026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Fran: 1 claim, $16K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Allegany County.

Disasters that hit Bowling Green

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Bowling GreenDeclared for Allegany County only

Allegany County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and hurricanes.

Around Bowling Green

Bowling Green and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Cumberlandmostly inland floodingLow

Bowling Greenmostly inland floodingVery low

Potomac Parkmostly inland floodingVery low

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. Bowling Green covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Bowling Green’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Bowling Green. 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 Bowling Green total about $569K 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.