Natural hazards · Ontonagon

Ontonagon, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ontonagon comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 1980.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ontonagon?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ontonagon to be higher than in 10% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding52%Cold waves35%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Ontonagon faces

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

Inland flooding

52% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 36% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

35% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 58% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

HurricanesEarthquakesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Ontonagon flood?

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

3paid claims since 1980

$2Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19802026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ontonagon County.

Disasters that hit Ontonagon

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OntonagonDeclared for Ontonagon County only

Ontonagon County has had 6 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and hurricanes.

Around Ontonagon

Ontonagon and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Ontonagonmostly 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. Ontonagon 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 Ontonagon’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Ontonagon. 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.