Natural hazards · Potter

Potter, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Potter comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 59 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Potter?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Potter to be higher than in 44% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves43%Inland flooding19%Hail12%Strong wind11%Tornadoes7%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Potter 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 85% of U.S. places

Recorded about 20 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

19% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 31% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hail

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Strong wind

11% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years 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 Potter flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Potter, from FEMA’s records.

59paid claims since 1979

$1.0Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Late spring storms: 2 claims, $44K
Not a named storm: 1 claim, $6K
Midwest Flooding: 1 claim, $7K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Barnes County.

Disasters that hit Potter

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PotterDeclared for Barnes County only

Barnes County has had 30 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Potter

Potter and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Pottermostly cold wavesModerate

Eckelsonmostly cold wavesModerate

Hemenmostly cold wavesModerate

Hobartmostly cold wavesModerate

Andersonmostly cold wavesModerate

Greenmostly cold wavesModerate

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. Potter covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Potter’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Potter. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Potter total about $3.6M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.