Glendale’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Glendale comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Glendale’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Glendale flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Glendale. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Glendale isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Spartanburg County.How exposed is Glendale?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 52% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.
Rated higher than 263 of the 475 South Carolina towns we cover.
Glendale is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Glendale faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Tornadoes
Cold waves
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Glendale
Disasters that paid out in Glendale itself (aid to households or repair grants to Glendale) and its biggest flood years.
- 2024Hurricane Helene63 households applied for aid$30K aid approved
Spartanburg County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Old photos of Glendale after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Glendale archive →Get ready for what Glendale actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- 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.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- 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.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of Spartanburg County’s 19 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 Glendale’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Glendale.
- 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.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Glendale.
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.