Natural hazards · Three Lakes

Three Lakes, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Three Lakes comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 6 claims here since 1984.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Three Lakes?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Three Lakes to be higher than in 72% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and earthquakes.

Inland flooding57%Earthquakes31%Everything else13%

By hazard

What Three Lakes faces

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

Inland flooding

57% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Earthquakes

31% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 86% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherCold wavesHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamis

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 Three Lakes flood?

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

6paid claims since 1984

$32Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19842026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Snohomish County.

Disasters that hit Three Lakes

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Three LakesDeclared for Snohomish County only

Snohomish County has had 33 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Three Lakes

Three Lakes and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Chain Lakemostly inland floodingVery high

Three Lakesmostly inland floodingHigh

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. Three Lakes covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Three Lakes’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Three Lakes. 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 Three Lakes total about $2.1M 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.