Natural hazards · Bethel

Bethel, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Bethel comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Bethel?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Bethel to be higher than in 66% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and drought.

Inland flooding51%Drought16%Tornadoes15%Hail9%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Bethel faces

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

Inland flooding

51% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 72% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Drought

16% of expected damage

Recorded about 31 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Bethel flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clay County.

Disasters that hit Bethel

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BethelDeclared for Clay County only

Clay County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Bethel

Bethel and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Bethelmostly inland floodingHigh

Pleasant Valleymostly inland floodingHigh

Mecklingmostly inland floodingHigh

Volinmostly inland floodingHigh

Starmostly inland floodingHigh

Spirit Moundmostly inland floodingHigh

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. Bethel 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 Bethel’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Bethel. 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.