Natural hazards · Chippewa

Chippewa, MI natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Chippewa to be higher than in 35% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding54%Tornadoes16%Cold waves13%Strong wind8%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Chippewa faces

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

Inland flooding

54% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

16% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 45 years in the area

Cold waves

13% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Chippewa flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Isabella County.

Disasters that hit Chippewa

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ChippewaDeclared for Isabella County only

Isabella County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Chippewa

Chippewa and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Greendalemostly inland floodingHigh

Denvermostly inland floodingModerate

Chippewamostly inland floodingLow

Coemostly inland floodingLow

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