Natural hazards · Wells

Wells, MI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wells comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 1997.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Wells?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wells to be higher than in 75% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding64%Cold waves16%Tornadoes9%Strong wind6%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Wells faces

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

Inland flooding

64% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

16% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 28 years in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 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 Wells flood?

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

1paid claims since 1997

$2Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19972026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Tuscola County.

Disasters that hit Wells

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WellsDeclared for Tuscola County only

Tuscola County has had 10 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Wells

Wells and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Ellingtonmostly inland floodingHigh

Wellsmostly inland floodingHigh

Kingstonmostly inland floodingHigh

Indianfieldsmostly inland floodingHigh

Daytonmostly inland floodingHigh

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. Wells covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Wells’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Wells. 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 Wells total about $3.0M 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.