Natural hazards · Clearwater

Clearwater, MI natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Clearwater to be higher than in 31% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding56%Cold waves29%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Clearwater faces

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

Inland flooding

56% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 59% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 14 years in the area

Cold waves

29% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce 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 Clearwater flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Clearwater 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 Clearwater

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ClearwaterDeclared for Kalkaska County only

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

Around Clearwater

Clearwater and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Miltonmostly inland floodingLow

Clearwatermostly inland floodingLow

Helenamostly inland floodingVery low

Whitewatermostly cold wavesVery low

Rapid Rivermostly inland floodingVery low

Kalkaskamostly 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. Clearwater covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Clearwater’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Clearwater. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Clearwater total about $924K a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.