Natural hazards · Sunnyside

Sunnyside, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Sunnyside comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Sunnyside?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Sunnyside to be higher than in 37% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes53%Inland flooding28%Cold waves13%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Sunnyside faces

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

Earthquakes

53% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 85% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

28% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 32% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

13% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 35% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Sunnyside flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Yakima County.

Disasters that hit Sunnyside

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SunnysideDeclared for Yakima County only

Yakima County has had 35 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. Sunnyside covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Sunnyside’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Sunnyside. 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 Sunnyside total about $5.0M 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.