Natural hazards · Heart Butte

Heart Butte, MT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Heart Butte comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low 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 Heart Butte?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Heart Butte to be higher than in 27% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves50%Inland flooding35%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Heart Butte faces

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

Cold waves

50% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

35% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 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 Heart Butte flood?

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

Disasters that hit Heart Butte

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Heart ButteDeclared for Pondera County only

2011

Severe Storms and Flooding

49 households applied for aid $52K aid approved

Pondera County has had 12 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. Heart Butte 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 Heart Butte’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Heart Butte. 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.