Natural hazards · Bowbells

Bowbells, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bowbells 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 Bowbells?

12
Very low
vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bowbells to be higher than in 12% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves51%Inland flooding24%Everything else25%
By hazard

What Bowbells faces

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

Cold waves

51% of expected damage
Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places
Recorded about 22 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

24% of expected damage
Well below average · higher than 12% of U.S. places
Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat 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 Bowbells flood?

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

of all homes
are insured
No community discount. Bowbells isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Burke County.
Disasters that hit Bowbells

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BowbellsDeclared for Burke County only
Burke County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.
Around Bowbells

Bowbells and the towns around it

Bowbells: Very low, mostly cold wavesMinnesota: Very low, mostly cold wavesDenmark: Very low, mostly cold wavesWard: Very low, mostly cold wavesLakeview: Very low, mostly cold wavesNorth Star: Very low, mostly cold wavesFairbanks: Very low, mostly cold wavesKenmare: Very low, mostly cold wavesElmdale: Very low, mostly cold wavesClayton: Very low, mostly cold wavesBowbells: Very low, mostly cold waves BowbellsBowbellsMinnesotaDenmarkWard
Very lowLowModerateHighVery high
Bowbellsmostly cold wavesVery low
Bowbellsmostly cold wavesVery low
Minnesotamostly cold wavesVery low
Wardmostly cold wavesVery low
Denmarkmostly 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. Bowbells 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 Bowbells’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Bowbells. 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.

We left the porch light on

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Boundary source: https://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/arcgis/rest/services/TIGERweb/Places_CouSub_ConCity_SubMCD/MapServer/15 · 2025-01-01