Natural hazards · Backus

Backus, MI natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Backus?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Backus to be higher than in 52% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding73%Cold waves9%Tornadoes6%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Backus faces

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

Inland flooding

73% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 44% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 52% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 30 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Backus flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Roscommon County.

Disasters that hit Backus

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BackusDeclared for Roscommon County only

Roscommon County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and hurricanes.

Around Backus

Backus and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Backusmostly inland floodingModerate

Richfieldmostly inland floodingModerate

Nestermostly inland floodingModerate

Higginsmostly inland floodingLow

Dentonmostly 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. Backus 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 Backus’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Backus. 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.