Mountain Top is calmer than 89% of U.S. communities
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Mountain Top comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 35 claims here since 1979.
What stands out about Mountain Top’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
How exposed is Mountain Top?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 11% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.
Calmer than 2,226 of the 2,558 Pennsylvania towns we cover.
Mountain Top covers 1 census tract, combined by population.
What Mountain Top faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Tornadoes
Does Mountain Top flood? Sometimes: 35 flood claims since 1979
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Mountain Top, from FEMA’s records.
- Hurricane Irene5 claims · $115K
- Tropical Storm Ivan3 claims · $72K
- Hurricane Ida2 claims · $109K
Mountain Top isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Luzerne County.The storms Mountain Top remembers
None of the disasters declared for Luzerne County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Mountain Top itself in FEMA’s records.
- 200610 flood claims paidThe most in any one year on record
Luzerne County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.
Old photos of Mountain Top after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Mountain Top archive →Get ready for what Mountain Top actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Mountain Top and its neighbors
Mountain Top has the lowest rating of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of Luzerne County’s 19 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Mountain Top’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Mountain Top.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels. Across Mountain Top, expected losses total about $1.7M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Mountain Top.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.