Natural hazards · Salem

Salem, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Salem comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 55 claims here since 1979.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Salem?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Salem to be higher than in 2% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding58%Lightning12%Cold waves9%Tornadoes8%Strong wind7%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Salem faces

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

Inland flooding

58% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 8% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lightning

12% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 46 years in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslides

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 Salem flood?

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

55paid claims since 1979

$1.1Mpaid to owners

10homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Tropical Storm Lee: 13 claims, $691K
Tropical Storm Ivan: 6 claims, $206K
Not a named storm: 1 claim, $2K

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. Salem isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Clarion County.

Disasters that hit Salem

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SalemDeclared for Clarion County only

Clarion County has had 12 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and hurricanes.

Around Salem

Salem and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Richlandmostly inland floodingHigh

Richlandmostly inland floodingLow

Ashlandmostly inland floodingVery low

Salemmostly inland floodingVery low

Beavermostly 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. Salem 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 Salem’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Salem. 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.