Natural hazards · Seward

Seward, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Seward comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 2003.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Seward?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Seward to be higher than in 58% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding92%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Seward faces

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

Inland flooding

92% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat 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 Seward flood?

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

1paid claims since 2003

$902paid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20032026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Seward 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 Seward

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SewardDeclared for Westmoreland County only

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

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. Seward 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 Seward’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Borough of Seward. 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.