Natural hazards · Colonial Heights

Colonial Heights, TN natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Colonial Heights comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 22 claims here since 1981.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Colonial Heights?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding73%Earthquakes8%Strong wind6%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Colonial Heights faces

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

Inland flooding

73% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Earthquakes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 65% of U.S. places

Strong wind

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Colonial Heights flood?

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

22paid claims since 1981

$103Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19812026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Sullivan County.

Disasters that hit Colonial Heights

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Colonial HeightsDeclared for Sullivan County only

Sullivan County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and winter storms.

Around Colonial Heights

Colonial Heights and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Colonial Heightsmostly inland floodingLow

Kingsportmostly inland floodingVery low

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. Colonial Heights covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Colonial Heights’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Colonial Heights. 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 Colonial Heights total about $1.1M 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.