Natural hazards · Lake

Lake, MS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lake comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Lake?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lake to be higher than in 62% of U.S. communities, mostly from tornadoes and inland flooding.

Tornadoes30%Inland flooding21%Cold waves18%Hurricanes10%Strong wind8%Heat waves5%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Lake faces

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

Tornadoes

30% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

18% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hurricanes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Heat waves

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 62% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. 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: Newton County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

11storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Lake

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into LakeDeclared for Newton County only

2005

Hurricane Katrina

454 households applied for aid $449K aid approved

2003

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Floods

3 households applied for aid

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

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