Natural hazards · Welcome

Welcome, SC natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Welcome comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 11 claims here since 1989.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Welcome?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Welcome to be higher than in 48% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding56%Tornadoes13%Cold waves11%Earthquakes7%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Welcome faces

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

Inland flooding

56% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

13% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Cold waves

11% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Earthquakes

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce stormsWinter 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 Welcome flood?

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

11paid claims since 1989

$511Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19892026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Helene: 5 claims, $287K
Hurricane Hugo: 1 claim, $1K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Greenville County.

Disasters that hit Welcome

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WelcomeDeclared for Greenville County only

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

Around Welcome

Welcome and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Powdersvillemostly inland floodingModerate

Welcomemostly inland floodingModerate

Parkermostly inland floodingLow

Judsonmostly 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. Welcome covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Welcome’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Welcome. 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 Welcome total about $2.2M 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.