Natural hazards · Chelan Falls

Chelan Falls, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Chelan Falls comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Chelan Falls?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Chelan Falls to be higher than in 89% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches51%Inland flooding26%Wildfire18%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Chelan Falls faces

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

Avalanches

51% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Inland flooding

26% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Wildfire

18% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Chelan Falls flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Chelan County.

Disasters that hit Chelan Falls

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Chelan FallsDeclared for Chelan County only

Chelan County has had 49 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires 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. Chelan Falls 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 Chelan Falls’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Chelan Falls. 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.