Natural hazards · Alta

Alta, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Alta comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 20 claims here since 1993.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Alta?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Alta to be higher than in 53% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves40%Inland flooding21%Strong wind13%Hail13%Tornadoes6%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Alta faces

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

Cold waves

40% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Recorded about 20 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Strong wind

13% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Hail

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Alta flood?

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

20paid claims since 1993

$396Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19932026

Biggest named events

Midwest Flooding: 2 claims, $17K
Winter storm: 1 claim, $2K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Barnes County.

Disasters that hit Alta

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into AltaDeclared for Barnes County only

Barnes County has had 30 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Alta

Alta and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Valleymostly inland floodingVery high

Altamostly cold wavesModerate

Oriskamostly cold wavesModerate

Cubamostly cold wavesModerate

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. Alta covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Alta’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Alta. 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 Alta total about $2.8M 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.