Natural hazards · Oak Lake

Oak Lake, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Oak Lake comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Oak Lake?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Oak Lake to be higher than in 40% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding43%Tornadoes23%Cold waves13%Hail7%Everything else14%

By hazard

What Oak 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 43% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

23% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

13% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 34% of U.S. places

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% 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 Oak Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Oak 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: Brookings County.

Disasters that hit Oak Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Oak LakeDeclared for Brookings County only

Brookings County has had 19 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Oak Lake

Oak Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Oak Lakemostly inland floodingModerate

Shermanmostly inland floodingModerate

Lake Hendricksmostly inland floodingModerate

Argomostly inland floodingModerate

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