Natural hazards · Blue Butte

Blue Butte, ND natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Blue Butte?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Blue Butte to be higher than in 30% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves40%Inland flooding23%Hail10%Tornadoes7%Strong wind6%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Blue Butte 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

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about 15 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 20% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Hail

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year 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 Blue Butte flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Blue Butte.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McKenzie County.

Disasters that hit Blue Butte

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Blue ButteDeclared for McKenzie County only

McKenzie County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Blue Butte

Blue Butte and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Blue Buttemostly cold wavesLow

Keenemostly cold wavesLow

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. Blue Butte 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 Blue Butte’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Blue Butte. 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.