Nichols’s biggest natural hazard is hurricanes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Nichols comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 60 claims here since 2015. 7 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Nichols’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Nichols flood? Sometimes: 60 flood claims since 2015
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Nichols, from FEMA’s records.
- Hurricane Florence34 claims · $2.5M
- Hurricane Matthew20 claims · $1.4M
- Hurricane Debby1 claim · $14K
Nichols isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Marion County.7 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Nichols
Disasters that paid out in Nichols itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Nichols) and its biggest flood years.
- 2022Hurricane Ian81 households applied for aid$50K aid approved
- 2018Hurricane Florence395 households applied for aid$1.5M aid approved$179K to the Town of Nichols for repairs35 flood claims paid that year
- 2016Hurricane Matthew659 households applied for aid$3.7M aid approved$345K to the Town of Nichols for repairs20 flood claims paid that year
- 2015Severe Storms and Flooding93 households applied for aid$23K aid approved
- 2004Tropical Storm Frances135 households applied for aid$86K aid approved
- 2004Severe Ice Storm$38K to the Town of Nichols for repairs
Show all 7
- 1999Hurricane Floyd Major Disaster Declarations$17K to the Town of Nichols for repairs
Marion County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Old photos of Nichols after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Nichols archive →How exposed is Nichols?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 89% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and inland flooding.
Rated higher than 388 of the 475 South Carolina towns we cover.
Nichols is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Nichols faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Tornadoes
Get ready for what Nichols actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- 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.
- 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 Marion County’s 18 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 Nichols’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Nichols.
- 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 Nichols.
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.