Natural hazards · Cold Spring

Cold Spring, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cold Spring comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 4 claims here since 1984.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cold Spring?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cold Spring to be higher than in 63% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding67%Tornadoes11%Cold waves7%Strong wind7%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Cold Spring faces

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

Inland flooding

67% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 38 years in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Cold Spring flood?

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

4paid claims since 1984

$33Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19842026

Biggest named events

Severe flooding: 1 claim, $5K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Stearns County.

Disasters that hit Cold Spring

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Cold SpringDeclared for Stearns County only

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

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. Cold Spring covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Cold Spring’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Cold Spring. 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 Cold Spring total about $4.1M 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.