Natural hazards · Moorhead

Moorhead, MN natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Moorhead?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Moorhead to be higher than in 84% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding72%Cold waves15%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Moorhead faces

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

Inland flooding

72% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

15% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 18 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce 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 Moorhead flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clay County.

Disasters that hit Moorhead

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MoorheadDeclared for Clay County only

Clay County has had 25 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Moorhead

Moorhead and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Moorheadmostly inland floodingVery high

Kurtzmostly inland floodingVery high

Moorheadmostly inland floodingHigh

Glyndonmostly inland floodingHigh

Fargomostly inland floodingModerate

Dilworthmostly inland floodingLow

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