Natural hazards · Box Elder

Box Elder, MT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Box Elder comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Box Elder?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

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

Cold waves71%Inland flooding20%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Box Elder faces

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

Cold waves

71% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

20% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 5 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Box Elder flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Hill County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Box Elder

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Box Elder itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Box Elder.

Brought FEMA money into Box ElderDeclared for Hill County only

2011

Severe Storms and Flooding

8 households applied for aid $11K aid approved

Hill County has had 11 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. Box Elder 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 Box Elder’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Box Elder. 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.