Natural hazards · Granite Falls

Granite Falls, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Granite Falls comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Granite Falls?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Granite Falls to be higher than in 42% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding46%Cold waves18%Tornadoes10%Heat waves9%Strong wind6%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Granite Falls faces

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

Inland flooding

46% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 61% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

18% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 22% of U.S. places

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 15 years in the area

Heat waves

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Granite Falls flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Granite Falls.

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Chippewa County.

Disasters that hit Granite Falls

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Granite FallsDeclared for Chippewa County only

Chippewa County has had 17 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Granite Falls

Granite Falls and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Minnesota Fallsmostly inland floodingHigh

Granite Fallsmostly inland floodingHigh

Stony Runmostly inland floodingHigh

Spartamostly inland floodingHigh

Wangmostly inland floodingModerate

Hawk Creekmostly inland floodingModerate

Granite Fallsmostly inland floodingModerate

Leenthropmostly inland floodingModerate

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. Granite Falls 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 Granite Falls’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Granite Falls. 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.