Natural hazards · Staples

Staples, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Staples 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 Staples?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding58%Cold waves11%Tornadoes8%Drought8%Strong wind6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Staples faces

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

Inland flooding

58% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

11% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 8 years in the area

Drought

8% of expected damage

Recorded about 14 times a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Staples flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Wadena County.

Disasters that hit Staples

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into StaplesDeclared for Wadena County only

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

Around Staples

Staples and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Staplesmostly inland floodingModerate

Thomastownmostly inland floodingModerate

Staplesmostly inland floodingVery low

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