Belgium’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Belgium comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Belgium’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What Belgium faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Hail
Drought
Does Belgium flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Belgium. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Belgium isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Polk County.How exposed is Belgium?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 88% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.
Rated higher than 2,606 of the 2,631 Minnesota towns we cover.
Belgium is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Polk County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Belgium itself in FEMA’s records.
Polk County has had 27 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.
Get ready for what Belgium actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Park in a garage or under cover when storms are forecast.
- Stay away from windows while it falls.
- Photograph roof and car damage for your insurer.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Belgium and its neighbors
Belgium ranks 4th calmest of 6 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | Very high | inland flooding | 0 |
| Parnell | Very high | inland flooding | 0 |
| Euclid | Very high | inland flooding | 0 |
| Polk Centre | Very high | inland flooding | 0 |
| Wylie | High | inland flooding | 0 |
| Louisville | High | inland flooding | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in March–April
The month each of Polk County’s 27 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Belgium’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Belgium.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Belgium.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.