Natural hazards · Southwest

Southwest, ND natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Southwest comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Southwest?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Southwest to be higher than in 40% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and hail.

Cold waves36%Hail20%Strong wind18%Inland flooding12%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Southwest faces

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

Cold waves

36% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 17 times a year in the area

Hail

20% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Strong wind

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

12% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 25% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesIce 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 Southwest flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Sargent County.

Disasters that hit Southwest

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SouthwestDeclared for Sargent County only

Sargent County has had 29 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Southwest

Southwest and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Southwestmostly cold wavesModerate

Bramptonmostly cold wavesModerate

Jacksonmostly cold wavesModerate

Portagemostly inland floodingLow

Lovellmostly cold wavesLow

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