Natural hazards · Elgin

Elgin, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Elgin comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Elgin?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Elgin to be higher than in 49% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and hail.

Cold waves52%Hail17%Inland flooding16%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Elgin faces

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

Cold waves

52% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about 13 times a year in the area

Hail

17% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

16% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 25% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesIce 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 Elgin flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Grant County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Elgin

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Elgin itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Elgin.

Brought FEMA money into ElginDeclared for Grant County only

2025

Severe Storm, Tornadoes, and Straight-Line Winds

$20K to the City of Elgin for repairs

2013

Severe Winter Storm

$27K to the City of Elgin for repairs

2009

Severe Storms and Flooding

8 households applied for aid $200 aid approved

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

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. Elgin 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 Elgin’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Elgin. 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.