Natural hazards · Waterville

Waterville, WA natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Waterville comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is very high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Waterville?

Very high

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Waterville to be higher than in 88% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves43%Inland flooding27%Wildfire21%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Waterville faces

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

Cold waves

43% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 76% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 89% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Wildfire

21% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDroughtAvalanchesVolcanic activity

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesTsunamis

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 Waterville flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Douglas County.

Disasters that hit Waterville

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into WatervilleDeclared for Douglas County only

Douglas County has had 17 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. Waterville 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 Waterville’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Waterville. 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.