Natural hazards · Helena Flats

Helena Flats, MT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Helena Flats comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1997.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Helena Flats?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Helena Flats to be higher than in 70% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding35%Earthquakes35%Cold waves26%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Helena Flats faces

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

Inland flooding

35% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

35% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Cold waves

26% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Helena Flats flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Helena Flats, from FEMA’s records.

2paid claims since 1997

$344paid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19972026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Flathead County.

Disasters that hit Helena Flats

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Helena FlatsDeclared for Flathead County only

Flathead County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires 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. Helena Flats covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Helena Flats’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Helena Flats. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Helena Flats total about $2.6M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.