Natural hazards · Fort Totten

Fort Totten, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fort Totten comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate 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 Fort Totten?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fort Totten to be higher than in 58% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves.

Cold waves48%Strong wind12%Inland flooding10%Wildfire8%Ice storms6%Hail6%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Fort Totten faces

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

Cold waves

48% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about 23 times a year in the area

Strong wind

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Inland flooding

10% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 6% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Wildfire

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Ice storms

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHeat 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 Fort Totten flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Benson County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Fort Totten

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Fort Totten itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Fort Totten.

Brought FEMA money into Fort TottenDeclared for Benson County only

2011

Flooding

24 households applied for aid $23K aid approved

2009

Severe Storms and Flooding

33 households applied for aid $10K aid approved

Benson County has had 26 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. Fort Totten 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 Fort Totten’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Fort Totten. 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.