Natural hazards · Clear Lake

Clear Lake, WI natural hazards

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

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Clear Lake?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Clear Lake to be higher than in 14% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves35%Inland flooding27%Tornadoes16%Strong wind9%Hail7%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Clear Lake faces

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

Cold waves

35% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 19% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

27% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 12% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Tornadoes

16% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 79% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 23 years in the area

Strong wind

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 95% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hail

7% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Lower here

Ice stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesLightningDrought

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 Clear Lake flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Clear 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: Polk County.

Disasters that hit Clear Lake

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Clear LakeDeclared for Polk County only

Polk County has had 8 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and tornadoes.

Around Clear Lake

Clear Lake and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Black Brookmostly inland floodingLow

Clear Lakemostly cold wavesVery low

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