Natural hazards · Watertown

Watertown, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Watertown comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 9 claims here since 2004.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Watertown?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Watertown to be higher than in 38% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding53%Tornadoes20%Strong wind12%Cold waves8%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Watertown faces

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

Inland flooding

53% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

20% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 58 years in the area

Strong wind

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Cold waves

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 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 Watertown flood?

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

9paid claims since 2004

$105Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20042026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clinton County.

Disasters that hit Watertown

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WatertownDeclared for Clinton County only

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

Around Watertown

Watertown and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Rileymostly inland floodingModerate

Watertownmostly inland floodingLow

Eaglemostly inland floodingLow

DeWittmostly inland floodingLow

Deltamostly 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. Watertown covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Watertown’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Watertown. 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 Watertown total about $2.3M 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.