Natural hazards · Wall Lake

Wall Lake, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wall Lake comes from tornadoes, 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 Wall Lake?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wall Lake to be higher than in 26% of U.S. communities, mostly from tornadoes and inland flooding.

Tornadoes34%Inland flooding27%Cold waves16%Hail6%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Wall Lake faces

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

Tornadoes

34% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 8 years in the area

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 30% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Cold waves

16% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 33% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 80% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 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 Wall Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Wall 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: Minnehaha County.

Disasters that hit Wall Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Wall LakeDeclared for Minnehaha County only

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

Around Wall Lake

Wall Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Wall Lakemostly tornadoesLow

Wellingtonmostly tornadoesLow

Waynemostly tornadoesLow

Hartfordmostly tornadoesLow

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