Natural hazards · Marathon

Marathon, MI natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding51%Cold waves20%Tornadoes17%Strong wind8%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Marathon faces

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

Inland flooding

51% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

20% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

17% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 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 Marathon flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Lapeer County.

Disasters that hit Marathon

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MarathonDeclared for Lapeer County only

Lapeer County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Marathon

Marathon and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Oregonmostly inland floodingModerate

Watertownmostly inland floodingLow

Marathonmostly inland floodingLow

Deerfieldmostly inland floodingLow

Forestmostly inland floodingLow

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. Marathon covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Marathon’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Marathon. 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 Marathon total about $1.3M 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.