Natural hazards · Potomac Heights

Potomac Heights, MD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Potomac Heights comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Potomac Heights?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Potomac Heights to be higher than in 3% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding42%Heat waves15%Strong wind12%Hurricanes9%Earthquakes8%Lightning6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Potomac Heights faces

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

Inland flooding

42% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 5% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Heat waves

15% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 50% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Strong wind

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Lightning

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesDrought

Not a risk here

AvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Potomac Heights flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Charles County.

Disasters that hit Potomac Heights

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Potomac HeightsDeclared for Charles County only

Charles County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and hurricanes.

Around Potomac Heights

Potomac Heights and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Potomac Heightsmostly inland floodingVery low

Indian Headmostly inland floodingVery low

Bryans Roadmostly 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. Potomac Heights 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 Potomac Heights’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Potomac Heights. 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.