Natural hazards · Valley Falls

Valley Falls, SC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Valley Falls comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 2024.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Valley Falls?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Valley Falls to be higher than in 22% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding59%Cold waves9%Earthquakes8%Tornadoes8%Ice storms5%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Valley Falls faces

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

Inland flooding

59% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 64% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 53% of U.S. places

Ice storms

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesHailWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Valley Falls flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Valley Falls, from FEMA’s records.

1paid claims since 2024

$77Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20242026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Helene: 1 claim, $77K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Valley Falls 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.

Disasters that hit Valley Falls

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Spartanburg County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Valley Falls itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Valley FallsDeclared for Spartanburg County only

Spartanburg County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.

Around Valley Falls

Valley Falls and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Boiling Springsmostly inland floodingModerate

Valley Fallsmostly inland floodingLow

Whitneymostly inland floodingLow

Southern Shopsmostly inland floodingVery low

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. Valley Falls covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Valley Falls’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Valley Falls. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Valley Falls total about $761K a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.