Natural hazards · Horseheads

Horseheads, NY natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Horseheads comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 1978. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Horseheads?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Horseheads to be higher than in 15% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding79%Tornadoes7%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Horseheads faces

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

Inland flooding

79% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 41% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 32% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Horseheads flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Horseheads, from FEMA’s records.

5paid claims since 1978

$31Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19782026

of all homes
are insured

🏷️ 10% off flood insurance. Horseheads is in FEMA’s Community Rating System (class 8) for its flood-proofing work.

Insurance rates: Chemung County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2buildings floodproofed

Disasters that hit Horseheads

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Horseheads itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Village of Horseheads.

Brought FEMA money into HorseheadsDeclared for Chemung County only

2011

Remnants of Tropical Storm Lee

11 households applied for aid $51K aid approved

2003

Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes

13 households applied for aid $9K aid approved

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

Around Horseheads

Horseheads and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Horseheads Northmostly inland floodingModerate

Horseheadsmostly inland floodingVery 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. Horseheads covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Horseheads’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Horseheads. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Horseheads total about $1.4M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.