Natural hazards · Sleepy Eye

Sleepy Eye, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sleepy Eye comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sleepy Eye?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sleepy Eye to be higher than in 34% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves48%Inland flooding28%Tornadoes11%Strong wind7%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Sleepy Eye faces

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

Cold waves

48% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 57% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 67 years in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Sleepy Eye flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Brown County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Sleepy Eye

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Sleepy EyeDeclared for Brown County only

Brown County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

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. Sleepy Eye 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 Sleepy Eye’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Sleepy Eye. 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.