Natural hazards · Wheeling

Wheeling, OH natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Wheeling?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wheeling to be higher than in 28% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding72%Lightning7%Tornadoes7%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Wheeling faces

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

Inland flooding

72% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lightning

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Tornadoes

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 65 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windDrought

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 Wheeling flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Belmont County.

Disasters that hit Wheeling

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WheelingDeclared for Belmont County only

Belmont County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Wheeling

Wheeling and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Colerainmostly inland floodingVery high

Short Creekmostly inland floodingModerate

Wheelingmostly inland floodingLow

Flushingmostly inland floodingLow

Unionmostly inland floodingVery low

Richlandmostly inland floodingVery low

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