Natural hazards · Cascade Locks

Cascade Locks, OR natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cascade Locks comes from wildfires, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 1996. 5 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cascade Locks?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cascade Locks to be higher than in 83% of U.S. communities, mostly from wildfires and inland flooding.

Wildfire48%Inland flooding27%Volcanic activity7%Earthquakes6%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Cascade Locks faces

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

Wildfire

48% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 54% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Volcanic activity

7% of expected damage

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

Earthquakes

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

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 Cascade Locks flood?

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

1paid claims since 1996

$3Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19962026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Hood River County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

6flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Cascade Locks

5 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Cascade LocksDeclared for Hood River County only

2024

Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Landslides, and Mudslides

$53K to the City of Cascade Locks for repairs

2017

Severe Winter Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

$83K to the City of Cascade Locks for repairs

2012

Severe Winter Storm, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides

$8K to the City of Cascade Locks for repairs

2008

Severe Winter Storm, Record and Near Record Snow

$5K to the City of Cascade Locks for repairs

2003

Severe Winter Storms

$54K to the City of Cascade Locks for repairs

Hood River County has had 15 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

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. Cascade Locks 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 Cascade Locks’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Cascade Locks. 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.