Natural hazards · Brooklyn Heights

Brooklyn Heights, OH natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Brooklyn Heights 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 Brooklyn Heights?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Brooklyn Heights to be higher than in 9% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding73%Tornadoes12%Cold waves9%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Brooklyn Heights faces

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

Inland flooding

73% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 27% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 61% of U.S. places

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat 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 Brooklyn Heights flood?

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

5paid claims since 1978

$58Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19782026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cuyahoga County.

Disasters that hit Brooklyn Heights

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Brooklyn HeightsDeclared for Cuyahoga County only

2012

Severe Storms and Flooding Due to the Remnants of Hurricane Sandy

$9K to the Village of Brooklyn Heights for repairs

2004

Severe Storms and Flooding

$1.2M to the Village of Brooklyn Heights for repairs

Cuyahoga County has had 15 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Brooklyn Heights

Brooklyn Heights and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Clevelandmostly inland floodingLow

Independencemostly inland floodingVery low

Cuyahoga Heightsmostly inland floodingVery low

Seven Hillsmostly inland floodingVery low

Brooklyn Heightsmostly 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. Brooklyn Heights covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Brooklyn Heights’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Brooklyn Heights. 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 Brooklyn Heights total about $649K 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.