Colonial Park is calmer than 84% of U.S. communities
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Colonial Park comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 13 claims here since 1979.
What stands out about Colonial Park’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
How exposed is Colonial Park?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 16% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.
Calmer than 2,032 of the 2,558 Pennsylvania towns we cover.
Colonial Park covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.
What Colonial Park faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Earthquakes
Hurricanes
Tornadoes
Heat waves
Does Colonial Park flood? Sometimes: 13 flood claims since 1979
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Colonial Park, from FEMA’s records.
- Tropical Storm Lee1 claim · $99
- Tropical Storm Ivan1 claim · $20K
Colonial Park isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Dauphin County.Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Dauphin County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Colonial Park itself in FEMA’s records.
Dauphin County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and hurricanes.
Get ready for what Colonial Park 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.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- 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 August–October
The month each of Dauphin County’s 18 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 Colonial Park’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Colonial Park.
- 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. Across Colonial Park, expected losses total about $2.5M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Colonial Park.
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.