Natural hazards · Middle Branch

Middle Branch, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Middle Branch comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 15 claims here since 1989.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Middle Branch?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Middle Branch to be higher than in 22% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding49%Cold waves15%Strong wind14%Tornadoes10%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Middle Branch faces

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

Inland flooding

49% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 31% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

15% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 41% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

14% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 32 years 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 Middle Branch flood?

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

15paid claims since 1989

$342Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19892026

Biggest named events

2026-04-Flooding: 5 claims, $172K

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Osceola County.

Disasters that hit Middle Branch

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Middle BranchDeclared for Osceola County only

Osceola County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Middle Branch

Middle Branch and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Sylvanmostly inland floodingModerate

Middle Branchmostly inland floodingLow

Marionmostly inland floodingLow

Hartwickmostly inland floodingLow

Reddingmostly 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. Middle Branch covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Middle Branch’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Middle Branch. 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 Middle Branch total about $999K 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.