Photo: Stepheng3 · Public domainStorms, floods and disasters in Cazadero
Cazadero isn’t graded for hazard risk: Cazadero has 483 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Cazadero faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
River and rain flooding
Earthquakes
Landslides
Wildfire
Shares are of FEMA’s expected building damage, the measure the grade uses; ranks compare each hazard’s building-damage rate with all 85,154 U.S. census tracts. In FEMA’s terms, river and rain flooding is FEMA’s “Inland Flooding” (rivers and streams overflowing their banks, or rain overwhelming drainage). FEMA defines coastal flooding as high or rising tides and storm surge, so surge damage is counted there. Drought isn’t listed: FEMA counts its losses in crops only.
Does Cazadero flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Cazadero. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Cazadero isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Sonoma County.2 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Cazadero
Disasters that paid out in Cazadero itself (aid to households or repair grants to Cazadero), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2020Wildfires25 households applied for aid$500 aid approved
- 2005Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Landslides16 households applied for aid$41K aid approved
Sonoma County has had 24 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often severe storms, then floods. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Also 8 FEMA wildfire suppression grants (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Sonoma County, 2004–2020.
Old photos of Cazadero after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Cazadero archive →Get ready for what Cazadero faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Turn around at flooded roads: a foot of moving water can carry off a car.
- Flood insurance usually takes 30 days to start, so buy it before the forecast.
- Keep papers and medicines up high, in a grab-and-go bag.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- Watch for new cracks, tilting trees or suddenly muddy streams after heavy rain.
- Stay off steep slopes in a downpour.
- Leave if you hear rumbling upslope.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- Look up the address on FEMA’s flood map.
- Ask the seller or landlord whether it has ever flooded, and what flood insurance costs there.
- Get a flood insurance quote early: policies usually start 30 days after you buy.
Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.
Questions about natural hazards in Cazadero
Is Cazadero in a flood zone?
Flood zones are drawn street by street, so the answer depends on the address: look it up on FEMA’s flood map. In Sonoma County, 31% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 1.1% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Cazadero?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Cazadero’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
What was the biggest storm in Cazadero?
By FEMA money that reached Cazadero, Severe Storms, Flooding, Mudslides, and Landslides (2005): 16 households applied for aid, $41K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Cazadero.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Cazadero’s residents lived in the 2020 census; 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. Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. Preparedness tips: Ready.gov. FEMA’s model is an average of expected damage, not a forecast. How hazard risk is graded.