Natural hazards · Hiles

Hiles, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Hiles 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 Hiles?

Very low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Hiles to be higher than in 18% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves71%Inland flooding23%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Hiles 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

23% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 42% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 7 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 Hiles flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Forest County.

Disasters that hit Hiles

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into HilesDeclared for Forest County only

Forest County has had 5 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Hiles

Hiles and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Three Lakesmostly inland floodingModerate

Phelpsmostly cold wavesLow

Washingtonmostly cold wavesLow

Piehlmostly cold wavesLow

Hilesmostly cold wavesVery low

Argonnemostly cold wavesVery low

Alvinmostly cold wavesVery low

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