Natural hazards · Chatham

Chatham, MI natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Chatham?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding57%Lightning17%Cold waves12%Hail8%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Chatham faces

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

Inland flooding

57% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Lightning

17% of expected damage

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

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Hail

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windDrought

Not a risk here

HurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Chatham flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Alger County.

Disasters that hit Chatham

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ChathamDeclared for Alger County only

Alger County has had 3 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and winter storms.

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