Natural hazards · Otsego

Otsego, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Otsego comes from hail, and overall the risk is high for a U.S. community.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Otsego?

High

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Otsego to be higher than in 76% of U.S. communities, mostly from hail and inland flooding.

Hail46%Inland flooding25%Cold waves12%Tornadoes9%Everything else8%

By hazard

What Otsego faces

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

Hail

46% of expected damage

Well above average · among the top 1% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

25% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 38% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

12% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 34% of U.S. places

Recorded about 6 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 74% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 12 years in the area

Lower here

HurricanesIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightningDrought

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Otsego flood?

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

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Columbia County.

Disasters that hit Otsego

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into OtsegoDeclared for Columbia County only

Columbia County has had 9 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and hurricanes.

Around Otsego

Otsego and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Otsegomostly hailHigh

Riomostly hailHigh

Doylestownmostly hailHigh

Lowvillemostly hailHigh

Springvalemostly hailHigh

Fountain Prairiemostly hailHigh

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