Natural hazards · Summit

Summit, PA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Summit comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Summit?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Summit to be higher than in 89% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding90%Everything else11%

By hazard

What Summit faces

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

Inland flooding

90% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years 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 Summit flood?

FEMA's records show no paid flood insurance claims in Summit.

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Potter County.

Disasters that hit Summit

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SummitDeclared for Potter County only

Potter County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and floods.

Around Summit

Summit and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Summitmostly inland floodingVery high

Whartonmostly inland floodingVery high

Homermostly inland floodingVery high

Sylvaniamostly inland floodingVery high

West Branchmostly inland floodingVery high

Swedenmostly inland floodingHigh

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