Natural hazards · Knife Lake

Knife Lake, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Knife Lake 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 Knife Lake?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Knife Lake to be higher than in 51% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding53%Cold waves23%Tornadoes10%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Knife Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

53% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

23% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 43% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 16 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 Knife Lake flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Knife 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: Kanabec County.

Disasters that hit Knife Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Knife LakeDeclared for Kanabec County only

Kanabec County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Knife Lake

Knife Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Arthurmostly inland floodingHigh

Knife Lakemostly inland floodingModerate

Ann Lakemostly inland floodingModerate

Whitedmostly inland floodingModerate

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