Natural hazards · Capital

Capital, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Capital comes from drought, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 3 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Capital?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Capital to be higher than in 39% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and inland flooding.

Drought44%Inland flooding21%Tornadoes12%Cold waves10%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Capital faces

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

Drought

44% of expected damage

Recorded about 27 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

10% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat 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 Capital flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Hutchinson County.

Disasters that hit Capital

3 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Capital itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Township of Capital.

Brought FEMA money into CapitalDeclared for Hutchinson County only

2019

Severe Winter Storm, Snowstorm, and Flooding

$150K to the Township of Capital for repairs

2011

Flooding

$16K to the Township of Capital for repairs

2007

Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding

$2K to the Township of Capital for repairs

Hutchinson County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Capital

Capital and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Sweetmostly droughtModerate

Capitalmostly droughtLow

Kaylormostly droughtLow

Wittenbergmostly droughtLow

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