Natural hazards · Cowiche

Cowiche, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Cowiche 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 Cowiche?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Cowiche to be higher than in 82% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and inland flooding.

Avalanches39%Inland flooding25%Wildfire18%Earthquakes9%Cold waves7%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Cowiche faces

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

Avalanches

39% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 8 years in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Wildfire

18% of expected damage

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

Earthquakes

9% of expected damage

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

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesLandslidesStrong 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 Cowiche flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Yakima County.

Disasters that hit Cowiche

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into CowicheDeclared for Yakima County only

Yakima County has had 35 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

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