Natural hazards · Bates

Bates, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bates comes from cold waves, 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 Bates?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bates to be higher than in 23% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves70%Inland flooding21%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Bates faces

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

Cold waves

70% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Bates flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Iron County.

Disasters that hit Bates

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into BatesDeclared for Iron County only

2002

Flooding

$4K to the Township of Bates for repairs

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

Around Bates

Bates and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Duncanmostly inland floodingModerate

Crystal Fallsmostly cold wavesLow

Batesmostly cold wavesLow

Hematitemostly cold wavesLow

Iron Rivermostly cold wavesLow

Stambaughmostly cold wavesVery low

Iron Rivermostly cold wavesVery 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. Bates 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 Bates’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Bates. 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.