Natural hazards · Wesson

Wesson, MS natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wesson comes from tornadoes, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Wesson?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

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

Tornadoes32%Inland flooding28%Heat waves9%Hurricanes8%Hail6%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Wesson faces

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

Tornadoes

32% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 17 years in the area

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Heat waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 8 years in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Wesson flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Copiah County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

17storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Wesson

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into WessonDeclared for Copiah County only

2012

Hurricane Isaac

131 households applied for aid $51K aid approved

2005

Hurricane Katrina

1,488 households applied for aid $1.1M aid approved

2003

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, Floods

189 households applied for aid $300K aid approved

Copiah County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.

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