Natural hazards · Sims

Sims, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sims comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1986.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sims?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sims to be higher than in 25% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding67%Cold waves14%Strong wind6%Tornadoes5%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Sims faces

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

Inland flooding

67% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

14% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 52% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 44 years in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingHurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

DroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Sims flood?

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

2paid claims since 1986

$56Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19862026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Arenac County.

Disasters that hit Sims

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SimsDeclared for Arenac County only

Arenac County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Sims

Sims and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Simsmostly inland floodingLow

Au Gresmostly inland floodingLow

Casevillemostly inland floodingLow

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