Natural hazards · Des Lacs

Des Lacs, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Des Lacs comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Des Lacs?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Des Lacs to be higher than in 21% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves43%Inland flooding27%Tornadoes8%Winter weather6%Hail5%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Des Lacs 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 21 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 18% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 65% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Winter weather

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 20 times a year in the area

Hail

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice 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 Des Lacs flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ward County.

Disasters that hit Des Lacs

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Des Lacs itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Township of Des Lacs.

Brought FEMA money into Des LacsDeclared for Ward County only

2011

Flooding

16 households applied for aid $27K aid approved

2009

Severe Storms and Flooding

1 household applied for aid $639 aid approved

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

Around Des Lacs

Des Lacs and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Des Lacsmostly cold wavesLow

Mandanmostly cold wavesLow

Burlingtonmostly cold wavesLow

Rolling Greenmostly cold wavesLow

Foxholmmostly 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. Des Lacs 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 Des Lacs’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Des Lacs. 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.