Natural hazards · Laketown

Laketown, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Laketown comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 3 claims here since 2001.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Laketown?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Laketown to be higher than in 30% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding38%Cold waves32%Tornadoes12%Strong wind7%Hail5%Everything else6%

By hazard

What Laketown faces

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

Inland flooding

38% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 41% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 3 years in the area

Cold waves

32% of expected damage

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

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 73% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 18 years in the area

Strong wind

7% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 94% of U.S. places

Recorded about 3 times a year in the area

Hail

5% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% 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 Laketown flood?

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

3paid claims since 2001

$20Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20012026

Biggest named events

Severe flooding: 1 claim, $1K

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

No community discount. Laketown 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 Laketown

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into LaketownDeclared for Polk County only

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

Around Laketown

Laketown and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Trade Lakemostly inland floodingLow

Laketownmostly inland floodingLow

Sterlingmostly inland floodingLow

Luckmostly inland floodingLow

Eurekamostly 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. Laketown covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Laketown’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Laketown. 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 Laketown total about $2.0M 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.