Yachats’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Yachats comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 6 claims here since 1997. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Yachats’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
How exposed is Yachats?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 90% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.
Rated higher than 353 of the 425 Oregon towns we cover.
Yachats is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Yachats faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Earthquakes
Tsunamis
Does Yachats flood? Rarely: 6 flood claims since 1997
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Yachats, from FEMA’s records.
Yachats isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Lincoln County.3 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Yachats
Disasters that paid out in Yachats itself (aid to households or repair grants to the City of Yachats) and its biggest flood years.
- 2020Wildfires and Straight-Line Winds4 households applied for aid$2K aid approved$8K to the City of Yachats for repairs
- 2015Severe Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides$60K to the City of Yachats for repairs
- 2007Severe Storms, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides$6K to the City of Yachats for repairs
Lincoln County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.
Old photos of Yachats after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Yachats archive →Get ready for what Yachats 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- Strong shaking or a sudden drop in the sea means head for high ground now.
- Learn the tsunami route signs near the shore.
- Stay away until officials say it’s safe.
- 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 December–February
The month each of Lincoln County’s 20 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 Yachats’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Yachats.
- 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 Yachats.
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.