Natural hazards · Benezette

Benezette, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Benezette comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 10 claims here since 2004.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Benezette?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Benezette to be higher than in 87% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding92%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Benezette faces

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

Inland flooding

92% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtTsunamisVolcanic 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 Benezette flood?

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

10paid claims since 2004

$72Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20042026

Biggest named events

Tropical Storm Ivan: 9 claims, $43K
Hurricane Debby: 1 claim, $30K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Elk County.

Disasters that hit Benezette

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BenezetteDeclared for Elk County only

Elk County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.

Around Benezette

Benezette and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Gibsonmostly inland floodingVery high

Shippenmostly inland floodingVery high

Benezettemostly inland floodingVery high

Jaymostly inland floodingVery high

Girardmostly inland floodingModerate

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. Benezette covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Benezette’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Benezette. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Benezette total about $2.3M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.