Natural hazards · Chester

Chester, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Chester comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Chester?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Chester to be higher than in 35% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves32%Inland flooding28%Tornadoes15%Drought7%Hail6%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Chester faces

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

Cold waves

32% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 32% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 22 times a year in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice 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 Chester flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Douglas County.

Disasters that hit Chester

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ChesterDeclared for Douglas County only

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

Around Chester

Chester and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Howardmostly cold wavesModerate

Mooremostly cold wavesModerate

Chestermostly cold wavesLow

Iowamostly cold wavesLow

Independencemostly cold wavesLow

Armourmostly cold wavesLow

Grandviewmostly cold wavesLow

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