Natural hazards · Fontana Dam

Fontana Dam, NC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fontana Dam comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Fontana Dam?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fontana Dam to be higher than in 72% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding58%Cold waves21%Tornadoes6%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Fontana Dam faces

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

Inland flooding

58% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

21% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 65% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 21 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHeat wavesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Fontana Dam flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Graham County.

Disasters that hit Fontana Dam

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Graham County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Fontana Dam itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Fontana DamDeclared for Graham County only

Graham County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and winter 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. Fontana Dam 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 Fontana Dam’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Fontana Dam. 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.