Natural hazards · Fords Prairie

Fords Prairie, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Fords Prairie comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 94 claims here since 1990.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Fords Prairie?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

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

Earthquakes52%Inland flooding45%Everything else3%

By hazard

What Fords Prairie faces

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

Earthquakes

52% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 91% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

45% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 81% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 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 Fords Prairie flood?

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

94paid claims since 1990

$3.5Mpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19902026

Biggest named events

Winter storm: 51 claims, $2.3M

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Lewis County.

Disasters that hit Fords Prairie

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Fords PrairieDeclared for Lewis County only

Lewis County has had 33 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Fords Prairie

Fords Prairie and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Centraliamostly earthquakesVery high

Grand Moundmostly inland floodingVery high

Fords Prairiemostly earthquakesVery high

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. Fords Prairie covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Fords Prairie’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Fords Prairie. 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 Fords Prairie total about $3.9M 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.