Natural hazards · Coulee

Coulee, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Coulee comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 38 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Coulee?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Coulee to be higher than in 26% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves43%Inland flooding17%Strong wind11%Hail9%Wildfire6%Tornadoes5%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Coulee faces

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

Cold waves

43% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about 24 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

17% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 5% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Wildfire

6% of expected damage

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

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 72% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Coulee flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Coulee, from FEMA’s records.

38paid claims since 1979

$751Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Severe flooding: 15 claims, $199K
Late spring storms: 1 claim, $2K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (1) ■ flooded 2+ times

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ramsey County.

Disasters that hit Coulee

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into CouleeDeclared for Ramsey County only

Ramsey County has had 24 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Coulee

Coulee and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Normaniamostly cold wavesLow

Couleemostly cold wavesLow

Dry Lakemostly cold wavesLow

Chain Lakesmostly cold wavesLow

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