Natural hazards · Spencer

Spencer, ND natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Spencer?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Spencer to be higher than in 10% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves51%Inland flooding23%Tornadoes7%Winter weather6%Hail5%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Spencer 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 21 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 9% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 8 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 84% 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 Spencer flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Spencer 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 Spencer

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SpencerDeclared for Ward County only

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

Around Spencer

Spencer and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Crowfootmostly cold wavesVery low

Kandiyohimostly cold wavesVery low

Spencermostly cold wavesVery low

Badenmostly cold wavesVery low

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