Erie’s biggest natural hazard is strong wind
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Erie comes from strong winds, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Erie’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Erie flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Erie. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Erie isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Cass County.How exposed is Erie?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 47% of U.S. communities, mostly from strong winds and hail.
Rated higher than 1,250 of the 1,711 North Dakota towns we cover.
Erie is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Erie faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Strong wind
Hail
Cold waves
Inland flooding
Tornadoes
Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Cass County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Erie itself in FEMA’s records.
Cass County has had 30 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.
Get ready for what Erie actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Trim dead limbs over the house and driveway.
- Tie down trash cans and outdoor furniture.
- Stay clear of downed lines and call the utility.
- Park in a garage or under cover when storms are forecast.
- Stay away from windows while it falls.
- Photograph roof and car damage for your insurer.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Most disasters here begin in March–April
The month each of Cass County’s 30 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Erie’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Erie.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Erie.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.