Natural hazards · Cherokee Falls

Cherokee Falls, SC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cherokee Falls comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cherokee Falls?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cherokee Falls to be higher than in 48% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding58%Tornadoes16%Cold waves7%Strong wind5%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Cherokee Falls 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

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

16% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 64% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Cherokee Falls flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Cherokee County.

Disasters that hit Cherokee Falls

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Cherokee Falls itself: aid to households, or repair grants to Cherokee Falls.

Brought FEMA money into Cherokee FallsDeclared for Cherokee County only

2024

Hurricane Helene

1 household applied for aid

Cherokee County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and ice 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. Cherokee Falls 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 Cherokee Falls’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Cherokee Falls. 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.