Natural hazards · Ross

Ross, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ross comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 27 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Ross?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Ross to be higher than in 18% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding64%Cold waves14%Tornadoes6%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Ross faces

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

Inland flooding

64% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 41% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

14% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 47% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 43% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 59 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningAvalanches

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 Ross flood?

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

27paid claims since 1979

$134Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19792026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Ross 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.

Disasters that hit Ross

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into RossDeclared for Luzerne County only

Luzerne County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.

Around Ross

Ross and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Fairmountmostly inland floodingModerate

Rossmostly inland floodingVery low

Lakemostly inland floodingVery low

Lehmanmostly 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. Ross covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Ross’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Ross. 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 Ross total about $538K 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.