Natural hazards · Colonial Heights

Colonial Heights, VA 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 63 claims here since 1979. 5 federal disasters brought FEMA money into town.

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 38% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding71%Tornadoes8%Hurricanes6%Everything else15%

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

71% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 60% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

8% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 52% of U.S. places

Hurricanes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 6 years in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

DroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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.

63paid claims since 1979

$1.2Mpaid to owners

12homes flooded more than once

19792026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Floyd: 15 claims, $696K
Hurricane Isabel: 10 claims, $183K
November 2009 Nor'easter: 1 claim, $2K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (3) ■ flooded 2+ times

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: the county.

Disasters that hit Colonial Heights

5 federal disasters brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into Colonial HeightsDeclared for the county only

2011

Hurricane Irene

$481K to the City of Colonial Heights for repairs

2004

Severe Storms, Flooding and Tornadoes Associated W Td Gaston

25 households applied for aid $42K aid approved $129K to the City of Colonial Heights for repairs

2003

Hurricane Isabel

460 households applied for aid $128K aid approved $710K to the City of Colonial Heights for repairs

2000

Severe Winter Storms

$42K to the City of Colonial Heights for repairs

1999

Hurricane Floyd Major Disaster Declarations

$105K to the City of Colonial Heights for repairs

the county has had 13 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and winter storms.

Around Colonial Heights

Colonial Heights and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Colonial Heightsmostly inland floodingLow

Petersburgmostly inland floodingVery low

Ettrickmostly 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 5 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Colonial Heights’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of 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 $4.3M 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.