Natural hazards · Portal

Portal, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Portal comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Portal?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Portal to be higher than in 12% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves51%Inland flooding24%Everything else25%

By hazard

What Portal faces

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

Cold waves

51% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 22 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

24% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 12% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce 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 Portal flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Burke County.

Disasters that hit Portal

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Portal itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Portal.

Brought FEMA money into PortalDeclared for Burke County only

1999

Severe Storms, Flooding, Snow, Ice, Ground Saturation, Lanslides, Mudslides, and Tor

$19K to the City of Portal for repairs

Burke County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Portal

Portal and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Portalmostly cold wavesVery low

Soomostly 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. Portal 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 Portal’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Portal. 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.