Natural hazards · Pickens

Pickens, MS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Pickens comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 1983. 5 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Pickens?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Pickens to be higher than in 49% of U.S. communities, mostly from tornadoes and inland flooding.

Tornadoes33%Inland flooding18%Cold waves14%Strong wind8%Earthquakes8%Heat waves6%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Pickens faces

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

Tornadoes

33% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 24 years in the area

Inland flooding

18% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 24% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

14% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Heat waves

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 17 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce 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 Pickens flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Pickens, from FEMA’s records.

5paid claims since 1983

$34Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19832026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Holmes County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Pickens

5 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into PickensDeclared for Holmes County only

2026

Severe Winter Storm

533 households applied for aid $2.4M aid approved $4K to the Town of Pickens for repairs

2011

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

25 households applied for aid $34K aid approved

2010

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

108 households applied for aid $563K aid approved

2005

Hurricane Katrina

333 households applied for aid $146K aid approved $33K to the Town of Pickens for repairs

2003

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Floods

30 households applied for aid $30K aid approved

Holmes County has had 25 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. Pickens 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 Pickens’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Pickens. 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.