Natural hazards · Big Meadow

Big Meadow, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Big Meadow comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Big Meadow?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Big Meadow to be higher than in 4% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves36%Inland flooding35%Tornadoes8%Winter weather6%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Big Meadow 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

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about 19 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

35% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 6% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 56% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 10 years in the area

Winter weather

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 16 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

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 Meadow flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Williams County.

Disasters that hit Big Meadow

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Big MeadowDeclared for Williams County only

Williams County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Big Meadow

Big Meadow and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Big Meadowmostly cold wavesVery low

South Meadowmostly cold wavesVery low

Sauk Valleymostly cold wavesVery low

Hazelmostly cold wavesVery low

Haylandmostly cold wavesVery 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. Big Meadow 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 Meadow’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Big Meadow. 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.