Ismay’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ismay comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Ismay’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What Ismay faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Wildfire
Does Ismay flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Ismay. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Ismay isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Custer County.How exposed is Ismay?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 70% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.
Rated higher than 303 of the 496 Montana towns we cover.
Ismay is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Ismay
Disasters that paid out in Ismay itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Ismay) and its biggest flood years.
- 2011Severe Storms and Flooding1 household applied for aid$153 aid approved
Custer County has had 7 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.
Old photos of Ismay after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Ismay archive →Get ready for what Ismay actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Ismay’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Ismay.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Ismay.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.