Natural hazards · Brightwood

Brightwood, VA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Brightwood comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Brightwood?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Brightwood to be higher than in 44% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and hurricanes.

Inland flooding52%Hurricanes16%Strong wind10%Drought5%Everything else18%

By hazard

What Brightwood faces

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

Inland flooding

52% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

16% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 84% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Strong wind

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Drought

5% of expected damage

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce 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 Brightwood flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Madison County.

Disasters that hit Brightwood

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BrightwoodDeclared for Madison County only

Madison County has had 21 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and hurricanes.

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