Natural hazards · Phelps

Phelps, MO natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Phelps?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Phelps to be higher than in 78% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and drought.

Inland flooding41%Drought21%Tornadoes12%Heat waves8%Cold waves8%Hail5%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Phelps faces

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

Inland flooding

41% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Drought

21% of expected damage

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Heat waves

8% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Cold waves

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Hail

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Phelps flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Atchison County.

Disasters that hit Phelps

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PhelpsDeclared for Atchison County only

Atchison County has had 19 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. Phelps 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 Phelps’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Phelps. 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.