Natural hazards · Lawrence

Lawrence, NE natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lawrence comes from hail, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Lawrence?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Lawrence to be higher than in 81% of U.S. communities, mostly from hail and drought.

Hail37%Drought22%Inland flooding16%Strong wind13%Tornadoes8%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Lawrence faces

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

Hail

37% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Drought

22% of expected damage

Recorded about 29 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

16% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Strong wind

13% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Lawrence flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Nuckolls County.

Disasters that hit Lawrence

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LawrenceDeclared for Nuckolls County only

Nuckolls County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

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. Lawrence 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 Lawrence’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Lawrence. 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.

Lawrence, NE natural hazards

How exposed is Lawrence?

What Lawrence faces

Hail

Drought

Inland flooding

Strong wind

Tornadoes

Lower here

Not a risk here

Does Lawrence flood?

Federal disasters declared here

How to read this page

Where to, neighbor?

Matches

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