Natural hazards · Kettle Falls

Kettle Falls, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Kettle Falls comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Kettle Falls?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Kettle Falls to be higher than in 68% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and wildfires.

Inland flooding70%Wildfire16%Cold waves9%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Kettle Falls faces

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

Inland flooding

70% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Wildfire

16% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 97% of U.S. places

Cold waves

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 75% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Kettle Falls flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Stevens County.

Disasters that hit Kettle Falls

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Kettle Falls itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the City of Kettle Falls.

Brought FEMA money into Kettle FallsDeclared for Stevens County only

2008

Severe Winter Storm and Record and Near Record Snow

$7K to the City of Kettle Falls for repairs

Stevens County has had 20 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and severe storms.

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. Kettle Falls 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 Kettle Falls’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Kettle Falls. 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.