Natural hazards · Hayward

Hayward, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Hayward comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 2016.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Hayward?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Hayward to be higher than in 28% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves71%Inland flooding22%Everything else7%

By hazard

What Hayward faces

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

Cold waves

71% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

22% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 56% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Lower here

TornadoesHailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesEarthquakesAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Hayward flood?

Every paid claim on a federal flood insurance policy in Hayward, from FEMA’s records.

2paid claims since 2016

$6Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20162026

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Hayward 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.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

7flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Hayward

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into HaywardDeclared for Sawyer County only

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

Around Hayward

Hayward and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

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. Hayward covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Hayward’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the City of Hayward. FEMA’s model follows property values, so a place that recently lost many homes can rate lower than it feels.

FEMA’s expected losses across Hayward total about $5.8M a year, counting buildings, people and crops.

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.