Natural hazards · Freshwater

Freshwater, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Freshwater comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Freshwater?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Freshwater 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 Freshwater 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 Freshwater flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Freshwater 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 Freshwater

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into FreshwaterDeclared for Ramsey County only

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

Around Freshwater

Freshwater and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Freshwatermostly cold wavesLow

North Creelmostly cold wavesLow

Dry Lakemostly cold wavesLow

Webstermostly cold wavesLow

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