Natural hazards · Delaware

Delaware, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Delaware comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 4 claims here since 2000.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Delaware?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Delaware to be higher than in 27% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding65%Cold waves15%Hurricanes6%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Delaware faces

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

Inland flooding

65% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

15% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 50% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 71% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 19 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat 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 Delaware flood?

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

4paid claims since 2000

$16Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20002026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Irene: 1 claim, $6K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pike County.

Disasters that hit Delaware

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into DelawareDeclared for Pike County only

Pike County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.

Around Delaware

Delaware and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Sandystonmostly inland floodingHigh

Walpackmostly inland floodingHigh

Lehmanmostly inland floodingLow

Delawaremostly inland floodingLow

Dingmanmostly inland floodingLow

Portermostly 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. Delaware covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Delaware’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Delaware. 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 Delaware total about $2.4M 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.