Natural hazards · Bear Lake

Bear Lake, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bear Lake 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 Bear Lake?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bear Lake to be higher than in 12% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding52%Cold waves28%Tornadoes5%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Bear Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

52% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 14 years in the area

Cold waves

28% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 45% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 53 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 Bear Lake flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kalkaska County.

Disasters that hit Bear Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Bear LakeDeclared for Kalkaska County only

Kalkaska County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and ice storms.

Around Bear Lake

Bear Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Graylingmostly inland floodingModerate

Garfieldmostly inland floodingLow

Fredericmostly inland floodingVery low

Bear Lakemostly inland floodingVery low

Olivermostly inland floodingVery low

Excelsiormostly inland floodingVery low

Blue Lakemostly 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. Bear Lake 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 Bear Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Bear Lake. 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.