Natural hazards · Fort Thompson

Fort Thompson, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fort Thompson comes from cold waves, 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 Fort Thompson?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Fort Thompson to be higher than in 74% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves55%Inland flooding25%Wildfire5%Strong wind5%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Fort Thompson faces

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

Cold waves

55% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 64% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Wildfire

5% of expected damage

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

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Fort Thompson flood?

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

What’s been done with FEMA grants

8storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Fort Thompson

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Fort ThompsonDeclared for Buffalo County only

Buffalo County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

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. Fort Thompson 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 Fort Thompson’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Fort Thompson. 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.