Natural hazards · Otis

Otis, ND natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Otis to be higher than in 23% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves33%Inland flooding30%Hail11%Tornadoes8%Strong wind6%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Otis faces

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

Cold waves

33% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about 19 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

30% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 14% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Hail

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Otis flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McLean County.

Disasters that hit Otis

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OtisDeclared for McLean County only

McLean County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Otis

Otis and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Greelymostly cold wavesLow

Otismostly cold wavesLow

Horseshoe Valleymostly cold wavesLow

Andrewsmostly cold wavesLow

Bjornsonmostly cold wavesVery 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. Otis 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 Otis’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Otis. 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.