Natural hazards · Big Lake

Big Lake, WA natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Big Lake?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Big Lake to be higher than in 68% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding66%Earthquakes18%Avalanches7%Everything else9%

By hazard

What Big Lake faces

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

Inland flooding

66% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Earthquakes

18% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 82% of U.S. places

Avalanches

7% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 0% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamis

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 Big Lake flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Skagit County.

Disasters that hit Big Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Big LakeDeclared for Skagit County only

Skagit County has had 26 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods 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. Big Lake 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 Big Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Big Lake. 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.