Natural hazards · Douglass

Douglass, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Douglass comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 47 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Douglass?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Douglass to be higher than in 35% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding62%Hurricanes10%Cold waves7%Tornadoes5%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Douglass faces

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

Inland flooding

62% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 54% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 14 years in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 26% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 53% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 66 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Douglass flood?

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

47paid claims since 1979

$1.2Mpaid to owners

9homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Not a named storm: 10 claims, $15K
Tropical Storm Lee: 4 claims, $211K
Hurricane Isaias: 3 claims, $41K

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. Douglass isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Berks County.

Disasters that hit Douglass

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into DouglassDeclared for Berks County only

Berks County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Douglass

Douglass and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

West Pottsgrovemostly inland floodingModerate

Unionmostly inland floodingModerate

Amitymostly inland floodingLow

Douglassmostly inland floodingLow

Earlmostly inland floodingLow

Colebrookdalemostly inland floodingVery low

Upper Pottsgrovemostly 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. Douglass 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 Douglass’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Douglass. 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.