Natural hazards · Vermillion

Vermillion, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Vermillion comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 2024.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Vermillion?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Vermillion to be higher than in 59% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding42%Tornadoes30%Cold waves6%Strong wind5%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Vermillion faces

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

Inland flooding

42% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 64% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

30% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 41 years in the area

Cold waves

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce 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 Vermillion flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Vermillion, from FEMA’s records.

1paid claims since 2024

$2Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20242026

Biggest named events

June Midwest Flooding: 1 claim, $2K

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Clay County.

Disasters that hit Vermillion

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into VermillionDeclared for Clay County only

Clay County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Vermillion

Vermillion and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Hookermostly inland floodingHigh

Fairviewmostly inland floodingHigh

Norwaymostly inland floodingHigh

Spirit Moundmostly inland floodingHigh

Vermillionmostly 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. Vermillion covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Vermillion’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Vermillion. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Vermillion total about $3.1M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.