Natural hazards · Walnut Lake

Walnut Lake, MN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Walnut Lake comes from inland flooding, 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 Walnut Lake?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Walnut Lake to be higher than in 35% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and drought.

Inland flooding30%Drought27%Cold waves14%Tornadoes10%Strong wind9%Hail6%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Walnut Lake 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

Below average · higher than 36% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

27% of expected damage

Recorded about 14 times a year in the area

Cold waves

14% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice 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 Walnut Lake flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Faribault County.

Disasters that hit Walnut Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Walnut LakeDeclared for Faribault County only

Faribault County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Walnut Lake

Walnut Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Brush Creekmostly inland floodingModerate

Walnut Lakemostly inland floodingLow

Minnesota Lakemostly inland floodingLow

Barbermostly inland floodingLow

Clarkmostly inland floodingLow

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