Natural hazards · Garfield

Garfield, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Garfield comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 1997.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Garfield?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Garfield to be higher than in 59% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding76%Cold waves12%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Garfield faces

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

Inland flooding

76% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanches

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Garfield flood?

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

2paid claims since 1997

$25Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19972026

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Whitman County.

Disasters that hit Garfield

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into GarfieldDeclared for Whitman County only

Whitman County has had 16 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and fires.

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