Natural hazards · Birchwood

Birchwood, WI natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Birchwood?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Birchwood to be higher than in 23% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves44%Inland flooding38%Tornadoes6%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Birchwood faces

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

Cold waves

44% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 10 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

38% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 46% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 years in the area

Tornadoes

6% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 55% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 17 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 Birchwood flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Washburn County.

Disasters that hit Birchwood

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into BirchwoodDeclared for Washburn County only

Washburn County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and tornadoes.

Around Birchwood

Birchwood and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Edgewatermostly cold wavesModerate

Birchwoodmostly 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. Birchwood 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 Birchwood’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Birchwood. 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.