Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0Storms, floods and disasters in Underwood
Underwood isn’t graded for hazard risk: Underwood has 898 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Underwood 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
Tornadoes
Hail
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 Underwood flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Underwood. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Underwood isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Pottawattamie County.7 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Underwood
Disasters that paid out in Underwood itself (aid to households or repair grants to the City of Underwood), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2024Severe Storms and Tornadoes1 households applied for aid$750 aid approved
- 2019Severe Storms and Flooding4 households applied for aid$9K aid approved$183K to the City of Underwood for repairs
- 2011Flooding$960 to the City of Underwood for repairs
- 2009Severe Winter Storms and Snowstorm$11K to the City of Underwood for repairs
- 2008Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding1 households applied for aid$88 aid approved$5K to the City of Underwood for repairs
- 2007Severe Storms, Flooding, and Tornadoes4 households applied for aid$1K aid approved
Show all 7
- 2004Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Flooding2 households applied for aid$4K aid approved
Pottawattamie County has had 23 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.
Old photos of Underwood after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Underwood archive →Get ready for what Underwood 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.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- Park in a garage or under cover when storms are forecast.
- Stay away from windows while it falls.
- Photograph roof and car damage for your insurer.
- 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 Underwood
Is Underwood 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 Pottawattamie County, 18% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 1.3% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Underwood?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Underwood’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 Underwood?
By FEMA money that reached Underwood, Severe Storms and Flooding (2019): 4 households applied for aid, $9K approved, and $183K to the City of Underwood for repairs.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Underwood.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Underwood’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.