Natural hazards · Big Bend

Big Bend, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Big Bend comes from cold waves, 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 Big Bend?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Big Bend to be higher than in 71% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves36%Inland flooding22%Strong wind14%Hail12%Ice storms7%Tornadoes5%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Big Bend faces

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

Cold waves

36% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 17 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

22% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Strong wind

14% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Hail

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Ice storms

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Lower here

Winter 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 Big Bend flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Big Bend.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ransom County.

Disasters that hit Big Bend

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Big BendDeclared for Ransom County only

Ransom County has had 32 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Big Bend

Big Bend and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Big Bendmostly cold wavesHigh

Caseymostly cold wavesHigh

Alicetonmostly cold wavesHigh

Island Parkmostly cold wavesHigh

Scovillemostly cold wavesModerate

Shenfordmostly 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. Big Bend 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 Big Bend’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Big Bend. 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.