Villas’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Villas comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 46 claims here since 1978.
What stands out about Villas’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
The storms Villas remembers
None of the disasters declared for Cape May County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Villas itself in FEMA’s records.
- 201221 flood claims paidThe most in any one year on record
Cape May County has had 27 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.
Old photos of Villas after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Villas archive →How exposed is Villas?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 63% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and heat waves.
Rated higher than 370 of the 564 New Jersey towns we cover.
Villas covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.
What Villas faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Heat waves
Hurricanes
Strong wind
Coastal flooding
Does Villas flood? Sometimes: 46 flood claims since 1978
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Villas, from FEMA’s records.
- Hurricane Sandy20 claims · $444K
- Hurricane Gloria3 claims · $11K
- The December Storm - nor’easter2 claims · $15K
Villas isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Cape May County.Get ready for what Villas actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- 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.
- Know the nearest cooling center or air-conditioned library.
- Drink water before you feel thirsty.
- Check on neighbors who live alone.
- 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.
Villas and its neighbors
Villas has the lowest rating of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
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 Cape May County’s 27 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 Villas’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Villas.
- 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. Across Villas, expected losses total about $3.0M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Villas.
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.