Natural hazards · Delaware

Delaware, OH natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Delaware?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Delaware to be higher than in 51% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding63%Tornadoes17%Strong wind5%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Delaware faces

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

Inland flooding

63% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

17% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 20 years in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Delaware flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Defiance County.

Disasters that hit Delaware

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into DelawareDeclared for Defiance County only

Defiance County has had 6 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Delaware

Delaware and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Delawaremostly inland floodingModerate

Emeraldmostly inland floodingModerate

Markmostly inland floodingModerate

Noblemostly inland floodingModerate

Washingtonmostly inland floodingModerate

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