Natural hazards · Middletown

Middletown, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Middletown comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 41 claims here since 1978.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Middletown?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Middletown to be higher than in 9% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding56%Heat waves9%Tornadoes8%Earthquakes7%Cold waves6%Hurricanes5%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Middletown faces

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

Inland flooding

56% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 19% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Heat waves

9% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 16% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Earthquakes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 58% of U.S. places

Cold waves

6% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 37% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hurricanes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingTsunamisVolcanic 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 Middletown flood?

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

41paid claims since 1978

$1.1Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19782026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Floyd: 9 claims, $600K
Hurricane Irene: 3 claims, $39K
Hurricane Isaias: 2 claims, $47K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Delaware County.

Disasters that hit Middletown

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MiddletownDeclared for Delaware County only

Delaware County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.

Around Middletown

Middletown and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Brookhavenmostly inland floodingModerate

Chester Heightsmostly inland floodingLow

Rose Valleymostly inland floodingLow

Astonmostly inland floodingVery low

Upper Providencemostly inland floodingVery low

Thornburymostly inland floodingVery low

Middletownmostly inland floodingVery low

Edgmontmostly 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. Middletown covers 4 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Middletown’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Middletown. 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 Middletown total about $4.0M 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.