Natural hazards · Chest

Chest, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Chest comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 23 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Chest?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Chest to be higher than in 28% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding80%Everything else20%

By hazard

What Chest faces

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

Inland flooding

80% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 56% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Chest flood?

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

23paid claims since 1979

$172Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cambria County.

Disasters that hit Chest

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ChestDeclared for Cambria County only

Cambria County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and hurricanes.

Around Chest

Chest and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Whitemostly inland floodingLow

Chestmostly inland floodingLow

Eldermostly inland floodingLow

Pattonmostly inland floodingLow

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. Chest covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Chest’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Chest. 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 Chest total about $1.8M 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.