Natural hazards · Walker Lake

Walker Lake, NV natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Walker Lake comes from earthquakes, 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 Walker Lake?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Walker Lake to be higher than in 80% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes51%Inland flooding34%Drought7%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Walker Lake faces

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

Earthquakes

51% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

34% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 62% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 148 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesIce stormsTsunamis

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 Walker Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Walker 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: Mineral County.

Disasters that hit Walker Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Walker LakeDeclared for Mineral County only

Mineral County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter 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. Walker Lake 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 Walker Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Walker Lake. 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.