Natural hazards · Melrose

Melrose, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Melrose comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Melrose?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Melrose to be higher than in 53% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding66%Tornadoes11%Cold waves8%Strong wind6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Melrose faces

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

Inland flooding

66% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 36 years in the area

Cold waves

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 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 Melrose flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Melrose 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.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Melrose

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Melrose itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Melrose.

Brought FEMA money into MelroseDeclared for Stearns County only

2011

Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes

$12K to the City of Melrose for repairs

2001

Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes

$27K to the City of Melrose for repairs

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

Around Melrose

Melrose and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Melrosemostly inland floodingModerate

Grovemostly 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. Melrose 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 Melrose’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Melrose. 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.