Natural hazards · Powell

Powell, SD natural hazards

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

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Powell to be higher than in 29% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves35%Inland flooding28%Hail10%Tornadoes8%Strong wind6%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Powell faces

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

Cold waves

35% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 12 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 31% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hail

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Powell flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Edmunds County.

Disasters that hit Powell

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into PowellDeclared for Edmunds County only

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

Around Powell

Powell and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Emersonmostly cold wavesLow

Powellmostly cold wavesLow

Kentmostly cold wavesLow

Harmonymostly cold wavesLow

Libertymostly cold wavesLow

Unionmostly cold wavesLow

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