Natural hazards · Salem

Salem, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Salem comes from inland flooding, and overall the risk is moderate for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 5 claims here since 1978.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Salem?

Moderate

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Salem to be higher than in 57% of U.S. communities, mostly from inland flooding and tornadoes.

Inland flooding58%Tornadoes15%Strong wind10%Cold waves7%Hail6%Everything else4%

By hazard

What Salem faces

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

Inland flooding

58% of expected damage

Above average · higher than 70% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 2 years in the area

Tornadoes

15% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 88% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 9 years in the area

Strong wind

10% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 98% of U.S. places

Recorded about 4 times a year in the area

Cold waves

7% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 26% of U.S. places

Recorded about 9 times a year in the area

Hail

6% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 87% of U.S. places

Recorded about 5 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 Salem flood?

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

5paid claims since 1978

$14Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

19782026

of homes in flood zones
are insured

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Pierce County.

What’s been done with FEMA grants

131flood-prone properties bought out and cleared

Disasters that hit Salem

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SalemDeclared for Pierce County only

Pierce County has had 11 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often floods and severe storms.

Around Salem

Salem and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Salemmostly inland floodingModerate

Hartlandmostly inland floodingModerate

Maiden Rockmostly inland floodingModerate

Unionmostly inland floodingModerate

El Pasomostly inland floodingModerate

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 covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Salem’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Salem. 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 total about $2.3M 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.