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Natural hazards · Essex

Essex, MO natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Essex comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 6 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

How exposed is Essex?

81
Very high
vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Essex to be higher than in 81% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes44%Inland flooding19%Tornadoes10%Cold waves8%Strong wind6%Heat waves6%Everything else8%
By hazard

What Essex faces

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

Earthquakes

44% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

19% of expected damage
Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places
Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage
Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places
Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Cold waves

8% of expected damage
Well below average · higher than 18% of U.S. places
Recorded about once a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places
Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Heat waves

6% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places
Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Essex flood?

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

of all homes
are insured
No community discount. Essex isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Stoddard County.
Disasters that hit Essex

6 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Essex itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Essex.

Brought FEMA money into EssexDeclared for Stoddard County only
2025

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding

1 household applied for aid $14K aid approved
2024

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding

10 households applied for aid $37K aid approved
2011

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

6 households applied for aid $3K aid approved
2009

Severe Winter Storm

$23K to the City of Essex for repairs
2008

Severe Storms and Flooding

3 households applied for aid $423 aid approved
2006

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

2 households applied for aid
Stoddard County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.
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. Essex 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 Essex’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Essex. 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.

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/18 · 2025-01-01
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