Natural hazards · Saco

Saco, MT natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Saco comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 1978. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Saco?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Saco to be higher than in 37% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves48%Inland flooding44%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Saco faces

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

Cold waves

48% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 14 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

44% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 64% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year 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 Saco flood?

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

3paid claims since 1978

$12Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19782026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Phillips County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1flood-prone homes bought out and moved

Disasters that hit Saco

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into SacoDeclared for Phillips County only

2011

Severe Storms and Flooding

7 households applied for aid $8K aid approved

Phillips County has had 8 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. Saco 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 Saco’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Saco. 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.