Natural hazards · Santee

Santee, SC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Santee comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 4 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Santee?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Santee to be higher than in 76% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and hurricanes.

Inland flooding37%Hurricanes34%Earthquakes15%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Santee faces

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

Inland flooding

37% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 57% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hurricanes

34% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Earthquakes

15% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong 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 Santee flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Orangeburg County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

1storm safe rooms built

1buildings retrofitted against wind

Disasters that hit Santee

4 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Santee itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Santee.

Brought FEMA money into SanteeDeclared for Orangeburg County only

2024

Hurricane Helene

425 households applied for aid $1.3M aid approved

2020

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-Line Winds

56 households applied for aid $128K aid approved

2016

Hurricane Matthew

125 households applied for aid $76K aid approved

2015

Severe Storms and Flooding

538 households applied for aid $161K aid approved

Orangeburg County has had 20 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. Santee 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 Santee’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Santee. 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.