Natural hazards · Forest Hills

Forest Hills, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Forest Hills comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 33 claims here since 1982.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Forest Hills?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Forest Hills to be higher than in 26% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding68%Tornadoes16%Strong wind6%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Forest Hills faces

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

Inland flooding

68% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 47% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

16% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat 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 Forest Hills flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Forest Hills, from FEMA’s records.

33paid claims since 1982

$851Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19822026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kent County.

Disasters that hit Forest Hills

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Forest HillsDeclared for Kent County only

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

Around Forest Hills

Forest Hills and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Northviewmostly inland floodingModerate

Plainfieldmostly inland floodingLow

Adamostly inland floodingLow

Forest Hillsmostly inland floodingLow

Lowellmostly inland floodingLow

Vergennesmostly inland floodingLow

Cannonmostly inland floodingVery low

Cascademostly inland floodingVery low

Kentwoodmostly inland floodingVery low

Grand Rapidsmostly 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. Forest Hills covers 4 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Forest Hills’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Forest Hills. 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 Forest Hills total about $8.5M 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.