Natural hazards · Lake

Lake, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Lake 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 Lake?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding43%Cold waves27%Hail10%Tornadoes9%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

43% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 38% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Cold waves

27% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Hail

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years 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 Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Spink County.

Disasters that hit Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LakeDeclared for Spink County only

Spink County has had 21 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Lake

Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Wheatonmostly cold wavesHigh

Lakemostly inland floodingLow

Exlinemostly inland floodingLow

Buffalomostly inland floodingLow

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