Natural hazards · Sawyer

Sawyer, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sawyer comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 60 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sawyer?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sawyer to be higher than in 28% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves41%Inland flooding30%Tornadoes8%Winter weather6%Hail5%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Sawyer faces

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

Cold waves

41% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 21 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

30% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 28% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Winter weather

6% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 20 times a year in the area

Hail

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsHeat 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 Sawyer flood?

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

60paid claims since 1979

$3.4Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Late spring storms: 23 claims, $2.0M
Winter storm: 1 claim, $10K
Not a named storm: 1 claim, $9K

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Ward County.

Disasters that hit Sawyer

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SawyerDeclared for Ward County only

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

Around Sawyer

Sawyer and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Sawyermostly cold wavesLow

Willismostly cold wavesLow

New Prairiemostly cold wavesLow

Brillianmostly cold wavesLow

Velvamostly 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. Sawyer covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Sawyer’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Sawyer. 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 Sawyer total about $2.8M 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.