Natural hazards · Yorktown

Yorktown, VA natural hazards

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

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

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

Inland flooding33%Hurricanes22%Tornadoes11%Heat waves7%Cold waves6%Earthquakes6%Everything else16%

By hazard

What Yorktown faces

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

Inland flooding

33% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 3% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Hurricanes

22% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Tornadoes

11% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 51% of U.S. places

Heat waves

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Cold waves

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 69% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Earthquakes

6% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 48% of U.S. places

Lower here

Coastal floodingHailIce stormsWinter weatherWildfireLandslidesStrong 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 Yorktown flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: York County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

5homes raised above flood level

1buildings retrofitted against wind

Disasters that hit Yorktown

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into YorktownDeclared for York County only

2003

Hurricane Isabel

1,813 households applied for aid $1.2M aid approved

York County has had 15 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. Yorktown 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 Yorktown’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Yorktown. 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.