Rockville’s biggest natural hazard is hurricanes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Rockville comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.
What stands out about Rockville’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Rockville flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Rockville. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Rockville is in FEMA’s Community Rating System (class 6) for its flood-proofing work.
Insurance rates: Charleston County.How exposed is Rockville?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 95% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and earthquakes.
Rated higher than 438 of the 475 South Carolina towns we cover.
Rockville is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Rockville faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Earthquakes
Inland flooding
Coastal flooding
Federal disasters declared here
None of the disasters declared for Charleston County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Rockville itself in FEMA’s records.
Charleston County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Get ready for what Rockville 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- 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.
- 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.
- Rockville residents get 20% off flood insurance.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Rockville and its neighbors
How storm and flood risk compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Rating | Mostly | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seabrook Island | Very high | hurricanes | 73 |
| Rockville | Very high | hurricanes | 0 |
Rating = expected yearly storm and flood damage as a share of what’s there, vs. U.S. communities. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.
Most disasters here begin in August–October
The month each of Charleston 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 Rockville’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Rockville.
- 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 Rockville.
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. Weather alerts: National Weather Service. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. An average of past damage, not a forecast.