Natural hazards · Great Bend

Great Bend, MN natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Great Bend?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Great Bend to be higher than in 68% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding46%Cold waves21%Hail9%Tornadoes8%Strong wind6%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Great Bend 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

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

21% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 62% of U.S. places

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 62% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice 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 Great Bend flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Great Bend.

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cottonwood County.

Disasters that hit Great Bend

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Great BendDeclared for Cottonwood County only

Cottonwood County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Great Bend

Great Bend and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Great Bendmostly inland floodingHigh

Windommostly inland floodingHigh

Dalemostly inland floodingHigh

Springfieldmostly inland floodingHigh

Delafieldmostly inland floodingModerate

Lakesidemostly 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. Great Bend 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 Great Bend’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Great Bend. 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.