Natural hazards · St. Stephens

St. Stephens, NC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in St. Stephens comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 7 claims here since 2019.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is St. Stephens?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in St. Stephens to be higher than in 22% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding54%Tornadoes15%Earthquakes10%Cold waves6%Everything else17%

By hazard

What St. Stephens faces

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

Inland flooding

54% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

10% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Cold waves

6% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 17% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 St. Stephens flood?

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

7paid claims since 2019

$166Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20192026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Eta: 1 claim, $18K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Catawba County.

Disasters that hit St. Stephens

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Catawba County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching St. Stephens itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into St. StephensDeclared for Catawba County only

Catawba County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and winter storms.

Around St. Stephens

St. Stephens and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Bethlehemmostly inland floodingModerate

Hickorymostly inland floodingLow

St. Stephensmostly inland floodingLow

Conovermostly inland floodingVery low

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. St. Stephens covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to St. Stephens’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to St. Stephens. 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 St. Stephens total about $1.7M 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.