Natural hazards · Union Gap

Union Gap, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Union Gap comes from earthquakes, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 1996.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Union Gap?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Union Gap to be higher than in 58% of U.S. communities, mostly from earthquakes and inland flooding.

Earthquakes69%Inland flooding21%Cold waves6%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Union Gap faces

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

Earthquakes

69% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 90% of U.S. places

Inland flooding

21% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 14% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

6% 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 Union Gap flood?

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

3paid claims since 1996

$11Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19962026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Union Gap 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 Union Gap

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Union GapDeclared for Yakima County only

Yakima County has had 35 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often fires and floods.

Around Union Gap

Union Gap and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Ahtanummostly inland floodingHigh

Union Gapmostly earthquakesModerate

Yakimamostly inland floodingVery low

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. Union Gap covers 2 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Union Gap’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Union Gap. 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 Union Gap total about $5.5M 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.