Natural hazards · Athens

Athens, OH natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Athens comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Athens?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Athens to be higher than in 1% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and strong winds.

Inland flooding45%Strong wind28%Tornadoes8%Hail6%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Athens faces

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

Inland flooding

45% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 4% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Strong wind

28% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 82 years in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Athens flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Harrison County.

Disasters that hit Athens

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into AthensDeclared for Harrison County only

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

Around Athens

Athens and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Short Creekmostly inland floodingModerate

Moorefieldmostly inland floodingModerate

Wheelingmostly inland floodingLow

Athensmostly inland floodingVery low

Cadizmostly 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. Athens 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 Athens’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Athens. 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.