Natural hazards · Big Falls

Big Falls, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Big Falls comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. 1 federal disaster brought FEMA money into town.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Big Falls?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Big Falls to be higher than in 48% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding48%Cold waves39%Tornadoes6%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Big Falls faces

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

Inland flooding

48% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 72% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Cold waves

39% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 65% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 67% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity

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 Big Falls flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Rusk County.

Disasters that hit Big Falls

1 federal disaster brought FEMA money here

Disasters the President declared that paid out in Big Falls itself: aid to households, or repair grants to the Town of Big Falls.

Brought FEMA money into Big FallsDeclared for Rusk County only

2001

Flooding, Severe Storms and Tornadoes

$3K to the Town of Big Falls for repairs

Rusk County has had 10 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Big Falls

Big Falls and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Big Fallsmostly inland floodingModerate

Cedar Rapidsmostly inland floodingModerate

Deweymostly inland floodingModerate

Hubbardmostly inland floodingModerate

Wintermostly cold wavesLow

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. Big Falls 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 Big Falls’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Big Falls. 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.