Natural hazards · Ontario

Ontario, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ontario 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 Ontario?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Ontario 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 Ontario

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OntarioDeclared for Ramsey County only

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

Around Ontario

Ontario and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Ontariomostly cold wavesLow

Minnewaukanmostly cold wavesLow

Hopemostly cold wavesLow

Noonanmostly cold wavesLow

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