Meadow is calmer than 86% of U.S. communities
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Meadow comes from wildfires, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Meadow’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
How exposed is Meadow?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 14% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and cold waves.
Calmer than 1,353 of the 1,711 North Dakota towns we cover.
Meadow is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Meadow faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Wildfire
Cold waves
Inland flooding
Tornadoes
Winter weather
Ice storms
Does Meadow flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Meadow. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Meadow isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: McHenry County.Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for McHenry County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Meadow itself in FEMA’s records.
McHenry County has had 29 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.
Get ready for what Meadow actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- 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.
Meadow and its neighbors
Meadow ranks 3rd calmest of 6 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meadow | Very low | wildfires | 0 |
| Deep River | Very low | wildfires | 0 |
| Layton | Very low | wildfires | 0 |
| Mouse River | Very low | wildfires | 0 |
| Stone Creek | Very low | cold waves | 0 |
| Tacoma | Very low | cold waves | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in February–April
The month each of McHenry County’s 29 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 Meadow’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Meadow.
- 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 Meadow.
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.