Natural hazards · Birch Creek

Birch Creek, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Birch Creek comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Birch Creek?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Birch Creek to be higher than in 44% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding59%Cold waves21%Tornadoes9%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Birch Creek faces

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

Inland flooding

59% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 66% of U.S. places

Recorded about once a year in the area

Cold waves

21% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 21% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

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

Recorded about once every 13 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 Birch Creek flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Chippewa County.

Disasters that hit Birch Creek

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Birch CreekDeclared for Chippewa County only

Chippewa County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Birch Creek

Birch Creek and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Washingtonmostly inland floodingHigh

Clevelandmostly inland floodingModerate

Birch Creekmostly inland floodingModerate

Sampsonmostly inland floodingModerate

Lake Holcombemostly inland floodingLow

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