Natural hazards · Mathews

Mathews, VA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Mathews comes from coastal flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Mathews?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Mathews to be higher than in 47% of U.S. communities, mostly from coastal flooding and inland flooding.

Coastal flooding42%Inland flooding27%Hurricanes12%Everything else20%

By hazard

What Mathews faces

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

Coastal flooding

42% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 7% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Hurricanes

12% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 83% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 5 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

AvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Mathews flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Mathews County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

5homes raised above flood level

1flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Mathews

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into MathewsDeclared for Mathews County only

2003

Hurricane Isabel

211 households applied for aid $311K aid approved

Mathews County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often hurricanes and winter storms.

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