Sellers’s biggest natural hazard is hurricanes
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sellers comes from hurricanes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 9 claims here since 2015. 4 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Sellers’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
Does Sellers flood? Rarely: 9 flood claims since 2015
Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Sellers, from FEMA’s records.
- Hurricane Florence6 claims · $143K
- Hurricane Matthew1 claim · $44K
- The October severe storms1 claim · $85K
Sellers 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.How exposed is Sellers?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 85% of U.S. communities, mostly from hurricanes and cold waves.
Rated higher than 369 of the 475 South Carolina towns we cover.
Sellers is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
What Sellers faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Hurricanes
Cold waves
Inland flooding
Tornadoes
4 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Sellers
Disasters that paid out in Sellers itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Sellers) and its biggest flood years.
- 2018Hurricane Florence89 households applied for aid$66K aid approved$59K to the Town of Sellers for repairs6 flood claims paid that year
- 2016Hurricane Matthew176 households applied for aid$297K aid approved$4K to the Town of Sellers for repairs
- 2015Severe Storms and Flooding35 households applied for aid$9K aid approved
- 2004Tropical Storm Frances39 households applied for aid$22K aid approved
Marion County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Old photos of Sellers after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Sellers archive →Get ready for what Sellers 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.
- Let faucets drip so pipes don’t freeze.
- Know where your water shutoff is.
- Never heat the house with the oven or a grill.
- 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.
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 Sellers’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Sellers.
- 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 Sellers.
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.