Natural hazards · Birch Lake

Birch Lake, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Birch Lake comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Birch Lake?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Birch Lake to be higher than in 11% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding63%Cold waves21%Tornadoes8%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Birch Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

63% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 29% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Cold waves

21% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about 16 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 59% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 65 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Birch Lake flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cass County.

Disasters that hit Birch Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Birch LakeDeclared for Cass County only

Cass County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Birch Lake

Birch Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Hackensackmostly inland floodingVery low

Hirammostly inland floodingVery low

Powersmostly inland floodingVery low

Woodrowmostly inland floodingVery low

Birch Lakemostly inland floodingVery low

Turtle Lakemostly 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. Birch Lake 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 Birch Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Birch Lake. 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.