Natural hazards · Cook

Cook, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cook comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 14 claims here since 1985.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cook?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cook to be higher than in 15% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding88%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Cook faces

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

Inland flooding

88% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 41% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times 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 Cook flood?

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

14paid claims since 1985

$111Kpaid to owners

3homes flooded more than once

19852026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Westmoreland County.

Disasters that hit Cook

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into CookDeclared for Westmoreland County only

Westmoreland County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Cook

Cook and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Ligoniermostly inland floodingModerate

Cookmostly inland floodingVery low

Donegalmostly inland floodingVery low

Jeffersonmostly inland floodingVery low

Lincolnmostly inland floodingVery low

Unitymostly inland floodingVery low

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. Cook is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

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

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.