Ware Shoals’s biggest natural hazard is inland flooding
Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Ware Shoals comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.
What stands out about Ware Shoals’s weather risks
Read from FEMA’s records below. The page puts what stands out first.
What Ware Shoals faces
Each hazard’s share of the damage FEMA expects here, and how it compares with the rest of the country.
Inland flooding
Cold waves
Tornadoes
Earthquakes
Does Ware Shoals flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Ware Shoals. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Ware Shoals isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Greenwood County.How exposed is Ware Shoals?
FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings here to be higher than in 33% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.
Calmer than 368 of the 475 South Carolina towns we cover.
Ware Shoals is smaller than a census tract, so it shares the figures of the tract around its center.
2 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Ware Shoals
Disasters that paid out in Ware Shoals itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Ware Shoals) and its biggest flood years.
- 2024Hurricane Helene1,280 households applied for aid$773K aid approved$59K to the Town of Ware Shoals for repairs
- 2015Severe Storms and Flooding9 households applied for aid$7K aid approved
Greenwood County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and severe storms.
Old photos of Ware Shoals after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Ware Shoals archive →Get ready for what Ware Shoals actually faces
A short kit for its top hazards, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- 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.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- 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 Greenwood County’s 14 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 Ware Shoals’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Ware Shoals.
- 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 Ware Shoals.
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.