Natural hazards · Mathews

Mathews, SD natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Cold waves28%Inland flooding28%Tornadoes13%Hail11%Drought7%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Mathews faces

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

Cold waves

28% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 27% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

13% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Hail

11% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 6 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 Mathews flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Mathews 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 Mathews

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into MathewsDeclared for Kingsbury County only

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

Around Mathews

Mathews and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Mathewsmostly cold wavesLow

De Smetmostly cold wavesLow

Esmondmostly cold wavesLow

Whitewoodmostly inland floodingLow

Manchestermostly cold wavesLow

Bakermostly inland floodingLow

Carthagemostly inland floodingLow

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