Natural hazards · Valley Falls

Valley Falls, NY natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Valley Falls comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Valley Falls?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Valley Falls to be higher than in 43% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding69%Tornadoes8%Hail7%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Valley Falls faces

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

Inland flooding

69% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 40% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 78 years in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 19% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce 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 Valley Falls flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Valley Falls.

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Valley Falls isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Rensselaer County.

Disasters that hit Valley Falls

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Valley FallsDeclared for Rensselaer County only

2011

Hurricane Irene

29 households applied for aid $190K aid approved $2K to the Village of Valley Falls for repairs

2008

Severe Winter Storm

$11K to the Village of Valley Falls for repairs

Rensselaer County has had 23 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and hurricanes.

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