Natural hazards · Vista Woods

Vista Woods, VA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Vista Woods comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 2006.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Vista Woods?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Vista Woods to be higher than in 26% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding64%Strong wind8%Heat waves7%Hurricanes6%Tornadoes6%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Vista Woods faces

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

Inland flooding

64% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Strong wind

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 50% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Hurricanes

6% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

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

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightning

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 Vista Woods flood?

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

5paid claims since 2006

$43Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20062026

Biggest named events

Tropical Storm Ernesto: 1 claim, $11K
Mid-spring storms: 1 claim, $15K
Hurricane Michael: 1 claim, $4K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Stafford County.

Disasters that hit Vista Woods

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Vista WoodsDeclared for Stafford County only

Stafford County has had 18 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often winter storms and hurricanes.

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. Vista Woods covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Vista Woods’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Vista Woods. 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 Vista Woods total about $1.3M 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.