Natural hazards · Foster

Foster, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Foster comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 36 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Foster?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Foster to be higher than in 46% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding81%Everything else19%

By hazard

What Foster faces

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

Inland flooding

81% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% 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 Foster flood?

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

36paid claims since 1979

$325Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Not a named storm: 1 claim, $158

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: McKean County.

Disasters that hit Foster

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into FosterDeclared for McKean County only

McKean County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.

Around Foster

Foster and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Bradfordmostly inland floodingVery high

Keatingmostly inland floodingHigh

Bradfordmostly inland floodingHigh

Ottomostly inland floodingModerate

Fostermostly inland floodingModerate

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. Foster covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

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