Laurel Lake’s biggest natural hazard is coastal flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Laurel Lake comes from coastal flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Laurel Lake’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What Laurel Lake faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Coastal flooding
Inland flooding
Hurricanes
Cold waves
How exposed is Laurel Lake?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 80% of U.S. communities, mostly from coastal flooding and inland flooding.
Rated higher than 493 of the 564 New Jersey towns we cover.
Laurel Lake is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
Does Laurel Lake flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Laurel Lake. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Laurel Lake isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Cumberland County.Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Cumberland County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Laurel Lake itself in FEMA’s records.
Cumberland County has had 24 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Get ready for what Laurel Lake actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Know your evacuation zone and the way off the coast.
- Storm surge comes fast: leave when you’re told, not when the water arrives.
- Move cars to high ground before king tides and nor’easters.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Laurel Lake and its neighbors
Laurel Lake ranks 2nd calmest of 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laurel Lake | Very high | coastal flooding | 0 |
| Commercial | Very high | coastal flooding | 24 |
| Millville | Low | inland flooding | 29 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of Cumberland County’s 24 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Laurel Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Laurel Lake.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Laurel Lake.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.