Natural hazards · Opal

Opal, VA natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Opal?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Opal to be higher than in 32% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding73%Strong wind5%Hurricanes5%Everything else17%

By hazard

What Opal 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 57% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Opal flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Fauquier County.

Disasters that hit Opal

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OpalDeclared for Fauquier County only

Fauquier County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and severe 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. Opal 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 Opal’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Opal. 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.