Natural hazards · Chief Lake

Chief Lake, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Chief Lake comes from cold waves, 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 Chief Lake?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Chief Lake to be higher than in 52% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves70%Inland flooding23%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Chief Lake faces

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

Cold waves

70% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

23% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 78% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce 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 Chief Lake flood?

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

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Sawyer County.

Disasters that hit Chief Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Chief LakeDeclared for Sawyer County only

Sawyer County has had 7 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and hurricanes.

Around Chief Lake

Chief Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Couderaymostly cold wavesHigh

Bass Lakemostly cold wavesModerate

Chief Lakemostly cold wavesModerate

Little Round Lakemostly cold wavesModerate

Reservemostly cold wavesModerate

New Postmostly cold wavesModerate

Huntermostly cold wavesModerate

Haywardmostly 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. Chief Lake 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 Chief Lake’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to Chief Lake. 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.