Natural hazards · Maryland

Maryland, ND natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Maryland?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Maryland to be higher than in 18% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves47%Inland flooding23%Tornadoes9%Winter weather6%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Maryland faces

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

Cold waves

47% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about 21 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 13% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Winter weather

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 20 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsHeat 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 Maryland flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ward County.

Disasters that hit Maryland

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MarylandDeclared for Ward County only

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

Around Maryland

Maryland and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Surreymostly cold wavesLow

Marylandmostly cold wavesVery low

McKinleymostly cold wavesVery low

Margaretmostly cold wavesVery low

Kottke Valleymostly wildfiresVery low

Norwichmostly wildfiresVery 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. Maryland 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 Maryland’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Maryland. 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.