Natural hazards · Sweetwater

Sweetwater, OK natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sweetwater comes from drought, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sweetwater?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sweetwater to be higher than in 65% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and tornadoes.

Drought27%Tornadoes22%Inland flooding14%Wildfire11%Cold waves7%Ice storms5%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Sweetwater faces

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

Drought

27% of expected damage

Recorded about 114 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

22% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Inland flooding

14% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 18% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Wildfire

11% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Ice storms

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Sweetwater flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Beckham County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

4storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Sweetwater

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SweetwaterDeclared for Beckham County only

Beckham County has had 23 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. Sweetwater 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 Sweetwater’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Sweetwater. 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.