Cayuse’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cayuse comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Cayuse’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Cayuse flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Cayuse. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Cayuse isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Umatilla County.How exposed is Cayuse?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 66% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.
Calmer than 282 of the 425 Oregon towns we cover.
Cayuse is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Cayuse faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Wildfire
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Cayuse
Disasters that paid out in Cayuse itself (aid to households or repair grants to Cayuse) and its biggest flood years.
- 2020Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides2 households applied for aid$41K aid approved
Umatilla County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.
Old photos of Cayuse after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Cayuse archive →Get ready for what Cayuse actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Most disasters here begin in July–August
The month each of Umatilla County’s 13 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Cayuse’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Cayuse.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Cayuse.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.