Natural hazards · Wheeler

Wheeler, MS natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Wheeler?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wheeler to be higher than in 46% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding32%Cold waves23%Tornadoes18%Earthquakes13%Heat waves6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Wheeler faces

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

Inland flooding

32% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 53% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

23% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 26 years in the area

Earthquakes

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Heat waves

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

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 Wheeler flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Prentiss County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

3storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Wheeler

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WheelerDeclared for Prentiss County only

Prentiss County has had 18 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. Wheeler 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 Wheeler’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Wheeler. 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.