Natural hazards · Plain Center

Plain Center, SD natural hazards

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

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Plain Center to be higher than in 47% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves37%Inland flooding31%Tornadoes10%Drought7%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Plain Center faces

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

Cold waves

37% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 63% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

31% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 54% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 5 years in the area

Drought

7% of expected damage

Recorded about 24 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce 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 Plain Center flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Charles Mix County.

Disasters that hit Plain Center

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Charles Mix County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Plain Center itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Plain CenterDeclared for Charles Mix County only

Charles Mix County has had 15 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Plain Center

Plain Center and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Plain Centermostly cold wavesModerate

Highlandmostly cold wavesModerate

White Swanmostly cold wavesModerate

Howardmostly cold wavesModerate

Bryanmostly cold wavesModerate

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