Natural hazards · Seneca

Seneca, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Seneca comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Seneca?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Seneca to be higher than in 37% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves42%Inland flooding23%Hail13%Tornadoes6%Everything else15%

By hazard

What Seneca faces

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

Cold waves

42% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 11 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 44% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hail

13% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 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 Seneca flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Faulk County.

Disasters that hit Seneca

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Seneca itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Seneca.

Brought FEMA money into SenecaDeclared for Faulk County only

2005

Severe Storm

$1K to the Town of Seneca for repairs

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

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