Natural hazards · LaCrosse

LaCrosse, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in LaCrosse comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is LaCrosse?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in LaCrosse to be higher than in 57% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding.

Inland flooding65%Cold waves12%Wildfire8%Everything else15%

By hazard

What LaCrosse faces

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

Inland flooding

65% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% 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

Wildfire

8% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

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 LaCrosse flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. LaCrosse 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 LaCrosse

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LaCrosseDeclared 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. LaCrosse 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 LaCrosse’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of LaCrosse. 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.