Natural hazards · Colfax

Colfax, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Colfax comes from strong winds, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Colfax?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Colfax to be higher than in 67% of U.S. communities, mostly from strong winds and inland flooding.

Strong wind49%Inland flooding33%Tornadoes7%Cold waves7%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Colfax faces

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

Strong wind

49% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

33% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 62% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 50 years in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 43% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 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 Colfax flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Mecosta County.

Disasters that hit Colfax

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ColfaxDeclared for Mecosta County only

Mecosta County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Colfax

Colfax and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Big Rapidsmostly strong windsHigh

Austinmostly strong windsHigh

Colfaxmostly strong windsHigh

Grantmostly strong windsHigh

Martinymostly strong windsHigh

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