Natural hazards · Oldtown

Oldtown, MD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Oldtown comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Oldtown?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Oldtown to be higher than in 27% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding64%Strong wind7%Heat waves7%Everything else23%

By hazard

What Oldtown faces

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

Inland flooding

64% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce 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 Oldtown flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Oldtown 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.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Oldtown

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Oldtown itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Oldtown.

Brought FEMA money into OldtownDeclared for Allegany County only

2003

Hurricane Isabel

1 household applied for aid $1K aid approved

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

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