Natural hazards · Denver

Denver, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Denver comes from inland flooding, 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 Denver?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Denver to be higher than in 30% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding33%Cold waves25%Tornadoes18%Hail9%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Denver faces

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

Inland flooding

33% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 30% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Cold waves

25% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 68% of U.S. places

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 96% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Hail

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

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 Denver flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kingsbury County.

Disasters that hit Denver

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into DenverDeclared for Kingsbury County only

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

Around Denver

Denver and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Bangormostly inland floodingModerate

Winsormostly inland floodingModerate

Denvermostly inland floodingLow

Arlingtonmostly inland floodingLow

Spring Lakemostly inland floodingLow

Badgermostly inland floodingLow

Bakermostly inland floodingLow

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