Natural hazards · Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, OH natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Grand Rapids comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 56 claims here since 1978.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Grand Rapids?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Grand Rapids to be higher than in 61% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding76%Tornadoes11%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Grand Rapids faces

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

Inland flooding

76% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 55 years in the area

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 Grand Rapids flood?

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

56paid claims since 1978

$474Kpaid to owners

9homes flooded more than once

19782026

Biggest named events

March storm: 1 claim, $37K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Wood County.

Disasters that hit Grand Rapids

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Grand RapidsDeclared for Wood County only

Wood County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Grand Rapidsmostly inland floodingHigh

Providencemostly 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. Grand Rapids 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 Grand Rapids’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Grand Rapids. 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.