Photo: MicaelaYoung · CC BY-SA 3.0Storms, floods and disasters in Heart Butte
Heart Butte isn’t graded for hazard risk: Heart Butte has 521 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Heart Butte 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
Wildfire
Earthquakes
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 Heart Butte flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Heart Butte. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Heart Butte
Disasters that paid out in Heart Butte itself (aid to households or repair grants to Heart Butte), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2011Severe Storms and Flooding49 households applied for aid$52K aid approved
Pondera County has had 10 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 1 FEMA wildfire suppression grant (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Pondera County, 2017–2017.
Old photos of Heart Butte after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Heart Butte archive →Get ready for what Heart Butte 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.
- 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- 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 Heart Butte
Is Heart Butte 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.
How much is flood insurance in Heart Butte?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Heart Butte’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 Heart Butte?
By FEMA money that reached Heart Butte, Severe Storms and Flooding (2011): 49 households applied for aid, $52K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Heart Butte.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Heart Butte’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.