Brookdale’s biggest natural hazard is earthquakes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Brookdale comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Brookdale’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Brookdale flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Brookdale. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Brookdale isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Orangeburg County.How exposed is Brookdale?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 58% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and hurricanes.
Rated higher than 287 of the 475 South Carolina towns we cover.
Brookdale covers 1 census tract, combined by population.
What Brookdale faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Earthquakes
Hurricanes
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Strong wind
Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Orangeburg County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Brookdale itself in FEMA’s records.
Orangeburg County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Get ready for what Brookdale actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Brookdale and its neighbors
Brookdale has the lowest rating of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orangeburg | High | hurricanes | 28 |
| Wilkinson Heights | Moderate | hurricanes | 0 |
| Brookdale | Moderate | earthquakes | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of Orangeburg County’s 20 declared disasters began, since 1953.
What these numbers can and can’t tell you
- An average, not a forecast. FEMA’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 there, so a big city isn’t rated riskier just for having more buildings.
- Money that reached town. Flood claims are matched to Brookdale’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Brookdale.
- It follows property value. FEMA’s model weighs damage to buildings, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels. Across Brookdale, expected losses total about $371K a year, counting buildings, people and crops.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Brookdale.
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
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. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.