Photo: DVIDSHUB · CC BY 2.0Storms, floods and disasters in Fort Drum
Fort Drum isn’t graded for hazard risk: Fort Drum is a Census area inside a town, graded with the town.
What Fort Drum 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
Strong wind
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 Fort Drum flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Fort Drum. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Fort Drum isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Jefferson County.The storms Fort Drum remembers
None of the 15 disasters declared for Jefferson County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Fort Drum itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Jefferson County has had 15 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often winter storms, then floods. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees; the 2001 World Trade Center declarations.
Fort Drum and its neighbors
How expected damage per building compares across the town line. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Hazard risk | Mostly (buildings) | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Le Ray | Aless damage than 91% | river and rain flooding | — |
| Champion | Aless damage than 89% | river and rain flooding | 2 |
| Black River | A−less damage than 79% | river and rain flooding | — |
| Calcium | — | a Census area inside a town; graded with the town | |
| Great Bend | — | 938 residents; we grade 1,000+ | |
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.
Get ready for what Fort Drum 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.
- Trim dead limbs over the house and driveway.
- Tie down trash cans and outdoor furniture.
- Stay clear of downed lines and call the utility.
- 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 Fort Drum
Is Fort Drum 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 Jefferson County, 0.6% of all homes carry federal flood insurance.
How much is flood insurance in Fort Drum?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Fort Drum’s 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 Fort Drum.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Fort Drum’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.