Natural hazards · Penn

Penn, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Penn comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 254 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Penn?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Penn to be higher than in 75% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding79%Strong wind5%Heat waves5%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Penn faces

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

Inland flooding

79% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 56% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Heat waves

5% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 13% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtTsunamisVolcanic 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 Penn flood?

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

254paid claims since 1979

$3.8Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Tropical Storm Lee: 67 claims, $1.5M
Tropical Storm Ivan: 65 claims, $1.2M
Torrential rain: 1 claim, $3K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Perry County.

Disasters that hit Penn

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PennDeclared for Perry County only

Perry County has had 17 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Penn

Penn and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Middle Paxtonmostly inland floodingHigh

Pennmostly inland floodingHigh

Duncannonmostly inland floodingHigh

Ryemostly inland floodingHigh

Marysvillemostly inland floodingHigh

Wheatfieldmostly inland floodingModerate

Wattsmostly inland floodingModerate

Reedmostly inland floodingLow

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. Penn covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Penn’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Penn. 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 Penn total about $2.3M 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.