Natural hazards · Banks

Banks, OR natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Banks comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is 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 Banks?

High

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding59%Earthquakes32%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Banks faces

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

Inland flooding

59% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

32% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamis

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 Banks flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Washington County.

Disasters that hit Banks

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into BanksDeclared for Washington County only

2008

Severe Winter Storm, Record and Near Record Snow

$11K to the City of Banks for repairs

2007

Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

4 households applied for aid $23K aid approved

Washington County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods 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. Banks 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 Banks’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Banks. 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.