Natural hazards · Clear Lake

Clear Lake, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Clear Lake 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 Clear Lake?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Clear Lake to be higher than in 78% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves31%Inland flooding25%Hail23%Tornadoes8%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Clear Lake faces

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

Cold waves

31% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 17 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hail

23% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 5 years in the area

Lower here

Ice 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 Clear Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Burleigh County.

Disasters that hit Clear Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Clear LakeDeclared for Burleigh County only

Burleigh County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Clear Lake

Clear Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Harriet-Leinmostly inland floodingHigh

Clear Lakemostly cold wavesHigh

Driscollmostly cold wavesHigh

Christianiamostly cold wavesHigh

Excelsiormostly cold wavesHigh

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