Natural hazards · Lower Merion

Lower Merion, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lower Merion comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 234 claims here since 1978.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Lower Merion?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding66%Cold waves9%Earthquakes7%Heat waves6%Tornadoes5%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Lower Merion faces

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

Inland flooding

66% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 25% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Heat waves

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

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

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesStrong 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 Lower Merion flood?

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

234paid claims since 1978

$5.7Mpaid to owners

37homes flooded more than once

19782026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Ida: 24 claims, $1.7M
Tropical Storm Lee: 18 claims, $506K
Not a named storm: 13 claims, $54K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (5) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Montgomery County.

Disasters that hit Lower Merion

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Lower MerionDeclared for Montgomery County only

Montgomery County has had 24 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.

Around Lower Merion

Lower Merion and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Conshohockenmostly inland floodingHigh

West Conshohockenmostly inland floodingHigh

Philadelphiamostly inland floodingModerate

Whitemarshmostly inland floodingModerate

Upper Merionmostly inland floodingLow

Lower Merionmostly inland floodingLow

Haverfordmostly inland floodingVery low

Radnormostly 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. Lower Merion covers 17 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Lower Merion’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Lower Merion. 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 Lower Merion total about $25.9M 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.