Natural hazards · Salem Lakes

Salem Lakes, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Salem Lakes comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 13 claims here since 2017.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Salem Lakes?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Salem Lakes to be higher than in 51% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and cold waves.

Inland flooding52%Cold waves27%Tornadoes12%Everything else10%

By hazard

What Salem Lakes faces

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

Inland flooding

52% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 72% of U.S. places

Recorded about 2 times a year in the area

Cold waves

27% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 43% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 times a year in the area

Tornadoes

12% of expected damage

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

Lower here

HurricanesHailIce 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 Salem Lakes flood?

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

13paid claims since 2017

$444Kpaid to owners

3homes flooded more than once

20172026

Biggest named events

2026-04-Flooding: 4 claims, $164K

Homes that flooded again and again

■ FEMA “severe repetitive loss” (0) ■ flooded 2+ times

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Kenosha County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

18flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Salem Lakes

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into Salem LakesDeclared for Kenosha County only

Kenosha County has had 14 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Salem Lakes

Salem Lakes and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Antiochmostly inland floodingHigh

Salem Lakesmostly inland floodingModerate

Randallmostly inland floodingLow

Paddock Lakemostly cold wavesVery low

Bristolmostly cold wavesVery low

Brightonmostly inland floodingVery 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. Salem Lakes covers 3 census tracts, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Salem Lakes’s own flood-insurance community; household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Village of Salem Lakes. 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 Salem Lakes total about $7.6M 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.