Natural hazards · Cross Plains

Cross Plains, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cross Plains comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 9 claims here since 2001.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Cross Plains?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cross Plains to be higher than in 54% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and drought.

Inland flooding32%Drought23%Cold waves17%Tornadoes15%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Cross Plains faces

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

Inland flooding

32% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Drought

23% of expected damage

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Cold waves

17% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 12 years 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 Cross Plains flood?

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

9paid claims since 2001

$244Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20012026

Biggest named events

Severe flooding: 1 claim, $19K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Cross Plains 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 Cross Plains

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Cross PlainsDeclared for Hutchinson County only

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

Around Cross Plains

Cross Plains and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Cross Plainsmostly inland floodingModerate

Dimockmostly inland floodingModerate

Starrmostly inland floodingModerate

Fostermostly droughtModerate

Libertymostly 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. Cross Plains covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Cross Plains’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Cross Plains. 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 Cross Plains total about $3.8M 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.