Natural hazards · Sawyer

Sawyer, OK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sawyer comes from drought, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sawyer?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sawyer to be higher than in 74% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and inland flooding.

Drought38%Inland flooding24%Tornadoes17%Heat waves10%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Sawyer faces

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

Drought

38% of expected damage

Recorded about 39 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

24% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

17% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Heat waves

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 23 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold 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 Sawyer flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Choctaw County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

2storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Sawyer

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into SawyerDeclared for Choctaw County only

2015

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

9 households applied for aid $8K aid approved

Choctaw County has had 18 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. Sawyer 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 Sawyer’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Sawyer. 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.