Natural hazards · Tawas

Tawas, MI natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Tawas to be higher than in 24% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding61%Cold waves18%Tornadoes6%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Tawas faces

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

Inland flooding

61% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Cold waves

18% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 45% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 96 years in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingHurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Tawas flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Iosco County.

Disasters that hit Tawas

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into TawasDeclared for Iosco County only

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

Around Tawas

Tawas and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Tawasmostly inland floodingLow

Tawas Citymostly inland floodingLow

Alabastermostly inland floodingLow

Shermanmostly inland floodingLow

Baldwinmostly inland floodingVery low

Wilbermostly inland floodingVery low

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