Natural hazards · Potomac Mills

Potomac Mills, VA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Potomac Mills comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is very low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 17 claims here since 1993.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Potomac Mills?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Potomac Mills to be higher than in 6% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding49%Heat waves12%Hurricanes10%Tornadoes10%Earthquakes6%Strong wind5%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Potomac Mills faces

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

Inland flooding

49% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 12% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Heat waves

12% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 49% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

10% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Tornadoes

10% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 45% of U.S. places

Earthquakes

6% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 44% of U.S. places

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireLandslidesLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Potomac Mills flood?

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

17paid claims since 1993

$487Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19932026

Biggest named events

Hurricane Isabel: 3 claims, $333K
Hurricane Fran: 2 claims, $51K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Prince William County.

Disasters that hit Potomac Mills

Federal disasters declared here

None of the disasters declared for Prince William County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Potomac Mills itself in FEMA’s records.

Brought FEMA money into Potomac MillsDeclared for Prince William County only

Prince William County has had 17 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and hurricanes.

Around Potomac Mills

Potomac Mills and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Lake Ridgemostly inland floodingLow

Dale Citymostly inland floodingLow

Potomac Millsmostly 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. Potomac Mills covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Potomac Mills’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Potomac Mills. 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 Potomac Mills total about $1.8M 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.