Natural hazards · Chico

Chico, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Chico comes from earthquakes, 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 Chico?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Chico to be higher than in 78% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes63%Inland flooding27%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Chico faces

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

Earthquakes

63% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 93% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 28 years in the area

Lower here

Coastal floodingTornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningTsunamis

Not a risk here

HurricanesCold wavesDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic 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 Chico flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kitsap County.

Disasters that hit Chico

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into ChicoDeclared for Kitsap County only

Kitsap County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Chico

Chico and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Chicomostly earthquakesHigh

Kitsap Lakemostly earthquakesHigh

Erlands Pointmostly earthquakesHigh

Silverdalemostly earthquakesHigh

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. Chico 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 Chico’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Chico. 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.