Natural hazards · Mendota Heights

Mendota Heights, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Mendota Heights comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 2014.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Mendota Heights?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Mendota Heights to be higher than in 27% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding43%Tornadoes23%Strong wind16%Hail7%Cold waves7%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Mendota Heights faces

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

Inland flooding

43% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 24% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

23% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Strong wind

16% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 23% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 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 Mendota Heights flood?

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

2paid claims since 2014

$12Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20142026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Dakota County.

Disasters that hit Mendota Heights

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Dakota County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Mendota Heights itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Mendota HeightsDeclared for Dakota County only

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

Around Mendota Heights

Mendota Heights and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Mendotamostly inland floodingModerate

Eaganmostly inland floodingLow

Mendota Heightsmostly inland floodingLow

Bloomingtonmostly inland floodingLow

St. Paulmostly inland floodingLow

Lilydalemostly inland floodingVery low

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. Mendota Heights covers 4 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Mendota Heights’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Mendota Heights. 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 Mendota Heights total about $4.8M 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.