Natural hazards · Fripp Island

Fripp Island, SC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fripp Island comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high 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 Fripp Island?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fripp Island to be higher than in 99% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and coastal flooding.

Hurricanes66%Coastal flooding24%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Fripp Island faces

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

Hurricanes

66% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Coastal flooding

24% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Lower here

Inland floodingTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

DroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Fripp Island flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Beaufort County.

Disasters that hit Fripp Island

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Fripp IslandDeclared for Beaufort County only

2016

Hurricane Matthew

188 households applied for aid $15K aid approved

Beaufort County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes 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. Fripp Island 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 Fripp Island’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Fripp Island. 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.