Natural hazards · Sandnes

Sandnes, MN natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sandnes?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sandnes to be higher than in 44% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and heat waves.

Inland flooding30%Heat waves30%Cold waves15%Tornadoes7%Strong wind6%Drought5%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Sandnes faces

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

Inland flooding

30% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 58% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Heat waves

30% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Cold waves

15% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 8 years in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Drought

5% of expected damage

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Sandnes flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Yellow Medicine County.

Disasters that hit Sandnes

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SandnesDeclared for Yellow Medicine County only

Yellow Medicine County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Sandnes

Sandnes and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Hazel Runmostly inland floodingHigh

Lucasmostly inland floodingModerate

Normaniamostly inland floodingModerate

Sandnesmostly inland floodingModerate

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