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A+Hazard risk
Natural hazards in Bel Air · FEMA

On FEMA’s figures, few U.S. towns expect less hazard damage per building than Bel Air, mostly from river and rain flooding

On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Bel Air gets an A+ for hazard risk: among the lowest expected damage per building of U.S. towns. Most of that expected damage is river and rain flooding (82%). FEMA’s files show no paid flood insurance claims here.

River and rain flooding 82%Hurricanes 4%Tornadoes 4%

Graded on FEMA’s expected yearly building damage per dollar of building value (NRI v1.20, December 2025), weighted by where residents live; flood claims are shown, not graded. How hazard risk is graded

among the lowestof U.S. townsLess damageMoreExpected yearly damage per dollar of building, vs. the 21,298 U.S. towns we grade
Hazard risk
A+
in Maryland · among the lowest of U.S. towns
Main hazard
River and rain flooding
82% of expected building damage
Flood claims
0
paid since 1978 · $0
Disasters paid out here
0
of 13 declared for Allegany County
By hazard

What Bel Air 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

82%of expected building damage
Well below average · lower than 87% of U.S. census tracts
Recorded about 2 times a year in the area
Smaller shares here
 Hurricanes Tornadoes Hail Earthquakes Strong wind Winter storms Ice storms Cold waves top 4% Landslides top 4% Lightning Wildfire Heat waves
FEMA models no building damage here
Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity
People, not buildings.Counting harm to people as well as buildings, FEMA’s model puts heat waves at 12% of Bel Air’s expected losses. Heat waves do little damage to buildings (0.0%), so they aren’t part of the grade.

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.

Flood risk changes street by street. Check a specific address on FEMA’s flood map, and ask about flood insurance before you buy.
Hazard risk grade

What’s behind Bel Air’s grade

River and rain flooding is 82% of the building damage FEMA expects in Bel Air, and Bel Air’s rate of river and rain flooding damage is lower than 87% of U.S. census tracts.

Where Bel Air sits
Bel Air
Least damageMiddleMost damage

A+ among the lowest expected damage per building of U.S. towns (21,298).

All of Bel Air’s residents live in one census tract; the figures are that tract’s.

What drives the damage to buildings
River and rain flooding82%Hurricanes4%Tornadoes4%Everything else9%

In dollars, FEMA expects about $205K a year in losses across Bel Air: $128K to buildings, the rest to people and crops.

Shared tract.All of Bel Air’s 1,689 residents (2020 census) live in one census tract, which it shares with Rawlings CDP (687 residents) and Bier CDP (186 residents). FEMA publishes its model by tract, so the rate and the hazard mix are the tract’s, the same for all of them. The flood claims below are the town’s own.
A shared figure. The grade describes the whole tract, not each street in it, and FEMA’s model is an average year for today’s buildings, not a record: the claims below are the record.

How TownRatings grades hazard risk →

Flood insurance claims

Does Bel Air flood? No paid flood claims on record

FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Bel Air. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.

of homes in flood zones are insured
of all homes are insured
No community discount

Bel Air isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.

Insurance rates: Allegany County.
Disasters

The storms Bel Air remembers

None of the 13 disasters declared for Allegany County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Bel Air itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.

Disasters declared, by decade
Paid out in Bel AirAllegany County only

Allegany County has had 13 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often winter storms, then hurricanes and tropical storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.

Next door

Bel Air and its neighbors

Bel Air has the lowest expected damage per building of the 2 graded towns here. Tap a town to see its hazards.

Cresaptown: hazard risk A+CresaptownBel Air
Lowest fifthSecondMiddleFourthHighest fifth
TownHazard riskMostly (buildings)Flood claims
Bel AirA+among the lowest damageriver and rain flooding0
CresaptownA+less damage than 95%river and rain flooding—

Hazard risk = FEMA’s expected yearly building damage per dollar of building value, vs. the 21,298 U.S. towns we grade; the map is shaded by fifths of the same scale. Flood claims = paid federal flood insurance claims on record.

Be ready

Get ready for what Bel Air faces

A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.

When the river rises
  • 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.
More from Ready.gov ↗
Before you buy or rent
  • 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.
When a storm is coming
Forecast and alertsWeather →911, the nearest ERSafety →

Know where neighbors sign up for alerts? Add it to the Handbook so everyone has it.

Questions about natural hazards in Bel Air

Is Bel Air at risk for natural disasters?

On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Bel Air has among the lowest expected damage per building of U.S. towns: A+ for hazard risk. Most of the expected damage is river and rain flooding (82%). The figures are for the one census tract the town shares with its neighbors. This is FEMA’s model of an average year for today’s buildings, not a forecast.

Is Bel Air 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 Allegany County, 24% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.5% of all homes do.

How much is flood insurance in Bel Air?

FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Bel Air’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.

Is Bel Air at risk from river and rain flooding?

It is the largest share of the building damage FEMA expects here (82%), and Bel Air’s rate for it is lower than 87% of U.S. census tracts.

Storm stories

Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Bel Air.

Town Square →
Start the conversation

Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Bel Air’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.