Natural hazards · Memphis

Memphis, TX natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Memphis comes from drought, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 2016. 2 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Memphis?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

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

Drought66%Strong wind10%Hail8%Inland flooding5%Tornadoes5%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Memphis faces

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

Drought

66% of expected damage

Recorded about 65 times a year in the area

Strong wind

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hail

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

5% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 4% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Memphis flood?

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

1paid claims since 2016

$2Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20162026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Hall County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

3storm safe rooms built

Disasters that hit Memphis

2 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into MemphisDeclared for Hall County only

2016

Severe Storms and Flooding

$224K to the City of Memphis for repairs

2000

Severe Winter Ice Storm

$1K to the City of Memphis for repairs

Hall County has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and fires.

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