Natural hazards · Summit

Summit, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Summit comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 1 claim here since 1980.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Summit?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Summit to be higher than in 66% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes72%Inland flooding23%Everything else5%

By hazard

What Summit faces

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

Earthquakes

72% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 92% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 22% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 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 Summit flood?

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

1paid claims since 1980

$35Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19802026

Biggest named events

Mt. St. Helens Eruption: 1 claim, $35K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pierce County.

Disasters that hit Summit

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SummitDeclared for Pierce County only

Pierce County has had 22 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Summit

Summit and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Puyallupmostly earthquakesVery high

Wallermostly earthquakesVery high

Midlandmostly earthquakesHigh

Summitmostly earthquakesHigh

Clover Creekmostly earthquakesHigh

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. Summit covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Summit’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Summit. 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 Summit total about $1,000K 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.