Natural hazards · Esperance

Esperance, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Esperance comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1980.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Esperance?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Esperance to be higher than in 71% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes79%Inland flooding17%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Esperance faces

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

Earthquakes

79% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

17% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 20% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesCold wavesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Esperance flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Esperance, from FEMA’s records.

2paid claims since 1980

$23Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19802026

Biggest named events

Mt. St. Helens Eruption: 1 claim, $4K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Snohomish County.

Disasters that hit Esperance

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into EsperanceDeclared for Snohomish County only

Snohomish County has had 33 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms 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. Esperance covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Esperance’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Esperance. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Esperance total about $3.5M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.