Natural hazards · Shields

Shields, NE natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Shields?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Shields to be higher than in 36% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and inland flooding.

Drought33%Inland flooding23%Cold waves16%Tornadoes8%Everything else19%

By hazard

What Shields faces

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

Drought

33% of expected damage

Recorded about 49 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 37% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

16% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Shields flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Holt County.

Disasters that hit Shields

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ShieldsDeclared for Holt County only

Holt County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Shields

Shields and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Shieldsmostly droughtLow

Paddockmostly droughtLow

Willowdalemostly droughtLow

Rock Fallsmostly droughtLow

Pleasant Viewmostly cold wavesVery low

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