Natural hazards · Pipestone

Pipestone, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Pipestone comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 12 claims here since 1993.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Pipestone?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Pipestone to be higher than in 19% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding29%Cold waves27%Tornadoes20%Strong wind8%Heat waves7%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Pipestone faces

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

Inland flooding

29% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 13% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

27% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

20% of expected damage

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

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Pipestone flood?

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

12paid claims since 1993

$344Kpaid to owners

2homes flooded more than once

19932026

Homes that flooded again and again

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pipestone County.

Disasters that hit Pipestone

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PipestoneDeclared for Pipestone County only

Pipestone County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Pipestone

Pipestone and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Sweetmostly inland floodingModerate

Graymostly inland floodingModerate

Pipestonemostly 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. Pipestone covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Pipestone’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Pipestone. 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 Pipestone total about $2.2M 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.