Photo: Doug Kerr from Upstate New York · CC BY-SA 2.0Storms, floods and disasters in Ames
Ames isn’t graded for hazard risk: Ames has 87 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Ames 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
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 Ames flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Ames. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Ames isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Montgomery County.The storms Ames remembers
None of the 19 disasters declared for Montgomery County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Ames itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Montgomery County has had 19 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often severe storms, then hurricanes and tropical storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees; the 2001 World Trade Center declarations.
Get ready for what Ames 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.
- 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 Ames
Is Ames 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 Montgomery County, 23% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.8% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Ames?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Ames’ flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Ames.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Ames’ 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.