Natural hazards · Merrill

Merrill, ME natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Merrill 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 Merrill?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Merrill to be higher than in 30% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding47%Cold waves33%Hurricanes10%Winter weather5%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Merrill faces

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

Inland flooding

47% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 46% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Cold waves

33% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 16 years in the area

Winter weather

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 29 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Merrill flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Aroostook County.

Disasters that hit Merrill

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into MerrillDeclared for Aroostook County only

2008

Severe Storms and Flooding

$2K to the Town of Merrill for repairs

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

Around Merrill

Merrill and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Smyrnamostly inland floodingModerate

Merrillmostly inland floodingLow

Moro plantationmostly inland floodingLow

Dyer Brookmostly inland floodingLow

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