Natural hazards · Hays

Hays, MT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Hays comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very high 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 Hays?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Hays to be higher than in 84% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves62%Inland flooding25%Lightning8%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Hays faces

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

Cold waves

62% 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

25% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lightning

8% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 45% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windDroughtAvalanches

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 Hays flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Blaine County.

Disasters that hit Hays

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into HaysDeclared for Blaine County only

2011

Severe Storms and Flooding

116 households applied for aid $163K aid approved

Blaine 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. Hays 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 Hays’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Hays. 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.