Natural hazards · Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek, SD natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Wolf Creek comes from drought, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 2001.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Wolf Creek?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Wolf Creek to be higher than in 50% of U.S. communities, mostly from drought and inland flooding.

Drought32%Inland flooding29%Tornadoes15%Cold waves12%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Wolf Creek faces

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

Drought

32% of expected damage

Recorded about 27 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

29% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 7 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 Wolf Creek flood?

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

5paid claims since 2001

$64Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20012026

Biggest named events

June Midwest Flooding: 2 claims, $31K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Hutchinson County.

Disasters that hit Wolf Creek

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Wolf CreekDeclared for Hutchinson County only

Hutchinson County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Wolf Creek

Wolf Creek and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Wolf Creekmostly droughtModerate

Kasselmostly droughtModerate

Pleasantmostly droughtModerate

Grandviewmostly droughtModerate

Claytonmostly droughtModerate

Silver Lakemostly droughtModerate

Wittenbergmostly droughtLow

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. Wolf Creek covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Wolf Creek’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Township of Wolf Creek. 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 Wolf Creek total about $8.2M 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.