Natural hazards · Maine

Maine, ND natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Maine?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Maine to be higher than in 51% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and hail.

Cold waves41%Hail29%Inland flooding15%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Maine faces

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

Cold waves

41% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Hail

29% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

15% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 7 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 Maine flood?

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

Disasters that hit Maine

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MaineDeclared for Adams County only

Adams County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Maine

Maine and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Mainemostly cold wavesModerate

Cedarmostly cold wavesModerate

Taylor Buttemostly cold wavesModerate

Ashbymostly inland floodingVery 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. Maine 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 Maine’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Maine. 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.