Natural hazards · Kittitas

Kittitas, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Kittitas comes from avalanches, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 7 claims here since 1997. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Kittitas?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Kittitas to be higher than in 89% of U.S. communities, mostly from avalanches and wildfires.

Avalanches51%Wildfire29%Inland flooding13%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Kittitas faces

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

Avalanches

51% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Wildfire

29% of expected damage

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

Inland flooding

13% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 65% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong 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 Kittitas flood?

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

7paid claims since 1997

$28Kpaid to owners

1homes flooded more than once

19972026

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kittitas County.

Disasters that hit Kittitas

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

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

Brought FEMA money into KittitasDeclared for Kittitas County only

2008

Severe Winter Storm and Record and Near Record Snow

$773 to the City of Kittitas for repairs

Kittitas County has had 26 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. Kittitas 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 Kittitas’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Kittitas. 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.