Natural hazards · The Plains

The Plains, VA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in The Plains comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low 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 The Plains?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in The Plains to be higher than in 24% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding73%Hurricanes7%Strong wind5%Everything else15%

By hazard

What The Plains 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

Below average · higher than 47% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 11 years in the area

Strong wind

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year 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 The Plains flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. The Plains 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 The Plains

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in The Plains itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of The Plains.

Brought FEMA money into The PlainsDeclared for Fauquier County only

2003

Hurricane Isabel

1 household applied for aid

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. The Plains 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 The Plains’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of The Plains. 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.