Natural hazards · Cleveland

Cleveland, OK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cleveland comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1984. 5 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cleveland?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cleveland to be higher than in 63% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves24%Inland flooding24%Tornadoes18%Ice storms10%Heat waves8%Strong wind6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Cleveland faces

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

Cold waves

24% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 34% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

24% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 43 years 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

Heat waves

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 24 times a year in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailWinter weatherWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Cleveland flood?

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

2paid claims since 1984

$15Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19842026

Homes that flooded again and again

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pawnee County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

10storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Cleveland

5 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into ClevelandDeclared for Pawnee County only

2025

Wildfires and Straight-Line Winds

58 households applied for aid $1.6M aid approved

2019

Severe Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Tornadoes, and Flooding

20 households applied for aid $58K aid approved $21K to the City of Cleveland for repairs

2011

Severe Winter Storm and Snowstorm

$4K to the City of Cleveland for repairs

2007

Severe Winter Storms

$36K to the City of Cleveland for repairs

2005

Extreme Wildfire Threat

$4K to the City of Cleveland for repairs

Pawnee County has had 28 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often ice storms and severe 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. Cleveland 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 Cleveland’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Cleveland. 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.