Natural hazards · Seneca

Seneca, WI natural hazards

Most of the natural-hazard damage FEMA expects in Seneca comes from cold waves, and overall the risk is low for a U.S. community. Flood insurance has paid 2 claims here since 2019.

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

Expected damage

How exposed is Seneca?

Low

vs. U.S. communities

FEMA expects yearly storm and flood damage to homes and buildings in Seneca to be higher than in 22% of U.S. communities, mostly from cold waves and inland flooding.

Cold waves45%Inland flooding34%Tornadoes9%Everything else12%

By hazard

What Seneca faces

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

Cold waves

45% of expected damage

Well below average · higher than 21% of U.S. places

Recorded about 7 times a year in the area

Inland flooding

34% of expected damage

Below average · higher than 37% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 4 years in the area

Tornadoes

9% of expected damage

Well above average · higher than 77% of U.S. places

Recorded about once every 14 years in the area

Lower here

HailIce stormsWinter weatherHeat wavesWildfireEarthquakesLandslidesStrong windLightning

Not a risk here

Coastal floodingHurricanesDroughtAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic 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 Seneca flood?

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

2paid claims since 2019

$32Kpaid to owners

0homes flooded more than once

20192026

Biggest named events

March 2019 Midwest Flooding: 1 claim, $19K

of all homes
are insured

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

Insurance rates: Shawano County.

Disasters that hit Seneca

Federal disasters declared here

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

Brought FEMA money into SenecaDeclared for Shawano County only

Shawano County has had 6 natural disasters declared since 1953, most often severe storms and floods.

Around Seneca

Seneca and the towns around it

Very lowLowModerateHighVery high

Grantmostly inland floodingLow

Morrismostly cold wavesLow

Senecamostly cold wavesLow

Hermanmostly cold wavesLow

Bowlermostly cold wavesLow

Bartelmemostly 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. Seneca covers 1 census tract, combined by population.

Money that reached townFlood claims are matched to Seneca’s own flood-insurance community (here, the census tracts inside it); household aid to the registrant’s city; repair grants to the Town of Seneca. 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 Seneca total about $2.4M 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.