Natural hazards · Des Moines

Des Moines, NM natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Des Moines?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Des Moines to be higher than in 75% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and wildfires.

Drought37%Wildfire21%Inland flooding19%Hail9%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Des Moines faces

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

Drought

37% of expected damage

Recorded about 160 times a year in the area

Wildfire

21% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

19% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Des Moines flood?

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

Disasters that hit Des Moines

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Des MoinesDeclared for Union County only

Union County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and fires.

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