Natural hazards · Minneapolis

Minneapolis, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Minneapolis comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 108 claims here since 1978. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Minneapolis?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Minneapolis to be higher than in 29% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding34%Cold waves25%Tornadoes21%Heat waves10%Hail7%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Minneapolis faces

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

Inland flooding

34% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 38% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

25% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 37% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

21% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Heat waves

10% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 44% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Minneapolis flood?

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

108paid claims since 1978

$903Kpaid to owners

3homes flooded more than once

19782026

Biggest named events

Midwest Flooding: 1 claim, $2K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Hennepin County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Minneapolis

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into MinneapolisDeclared for Hennepin County only

2016

Severe Storms and Flooding

16 households applied for aid $2K aid approved

Hennepin County has had 15 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Minneapolis

Minneapolis and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Brooklyn Centermostly inland floodingHigh

Robbinsdalemostly inland floodingHigh

Fridleymostly inland floodingModerate

Golden Valleymostly inland floodingLow

Minneapolismostly inland floodingLow

Edinamostly inland floodingLow

St. Paulmostly inland floodingLow

Richfieldmostly inland floodingLow

St. Louis Parkmostly inland floodingVery low

St. Anthonymostly 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. Minneapolis covers 121 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Minneapolis’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Minneapolis. 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 Minneapolis total about $136M 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.