Natural hazards · Fair Play

Fair Play, SC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fair Play comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Fair Play?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fair Play to be higher than in 29% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves56%Inland flooding25%Tornadoes6%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Fair Play faces

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

Cold waves

56% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 62% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 5 years in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 44% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 34 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Fair Play flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Oconee County.

Disasters that hit Fair Play

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Fair PlayDeclared for Oconee County only

2024

Hurricane Helene

217 households applied for aid $108K aid approved

2020

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-Line Winds

4 households applied for aid $2K aid approved

2004

Tropical Storm Frances

3 households applied for aid $5K aid approved

Oconee County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe 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. Fair Play 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 Fair Play’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Fair Play. 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.