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 12 claims here since 2009.

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 77% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding95%Everything else5%

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

95% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times 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 Penn flood?

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

12paid claims since 2009

$141Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

20092026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

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: Westmoreland County.

Disasters that hit Penn

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PennDeclared for Westmoreland County only

Westmoreland County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and winter storms.

Around Penn

Penn and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Pennmostly inland floodingHigh

Jeannettemostly inland floodingLow

Pennmostly inland floodingVery low

Hempfieldmostly 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. Penn is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Penn’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Borough of Penn. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

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.