Natural hazards · Ottertail

Ottertail, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ottertail comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 2001.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ottertail?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ottertail to be higher than in 47% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding72%Cold waves10%Tornadoes10%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Ottertail 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

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

10% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 15 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 Ottertail flood?

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

2paid claims since 2001

$21Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

20012026

Homes that flooded again and again

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Otter Tail County.

Disasters that hit Ottertail

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OttertailDeclared for Otter Tail County only

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

Around Ottertail

Ottertail and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Ottertailmostly inland floodingModerate

Otter Tailmostly inland floodingModerate

Leaf Lakemostly 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. Ottertail 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 Ottertail’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Ottertail. 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.