Natural hazards · Ames

Ames, OK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ames comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ames?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ames to be higher than in 90% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and hail.

Cold waves27%Hail17%Inland flooding16%Drought14%Ice storms10%Tornadoes8%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Ames faces

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

Cold waves

27% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hail

17% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 8 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

16% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Drought

14% of expected damage

Recorded about 82 times a year in the area

Ice storms

10% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

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 Ames flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Major County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

13storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Ames

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Ames itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Ames.

Brought FEMA money into AmesDeclared for Major County only

2007

Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes

$8K to the Town of Ames for repairs

2002

Severe Winter Ice Storm

$3K to the Town of Ames for repairs

Major County has had 28 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and ice storms.

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