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B+Hazard risk
Natural hazards in Spring Brook Township · FEMA

On FEMA’s figures, Spring Brook Township faces less hazard damage per building than 74% of U.S. towns, mostly from river and rain flooding

On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Spring Brook Township gets a B+ for hazard risk: lower expected damage per building than 74% of U.S. towns, #483 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. Most of that expected damage is river and rain flooding (89%). FEMA’s files show no paid flood insurance claims here.

River and rain flooding 89%Hurricanes 5%Tornadoes 3%

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

less than 74%of U.S. townsLess damageMoreExpected yearly damage per dollar of building, vs. the 21,298 U.S. towns we grade#483 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania
Hazard risk
B+#483 of 1,037
in Pennsylvania · lower than 74% of U.S. towns
Main hazard
River and rain flooding
89% of expected building damage
Flood claims
0
paid since 1978 · $0
Disasters paid out here
0
of 18 declared for Lackawanna County
By hazard

What Spring Brook Township 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

89%of expected building damage
About average · higher than 53% of U.S. census tracts
Recorded about 2 times a year in the area
Smaller shares here
 Hurricanes Tornadoes Strong wind Earthquakes Ice storms Winter storms Hail Wildfire Lightning Cold waves Heat waves Landslides
FEMA models no building damage here
Coastal floodingAvalanchesTsunamisVolcanic activity
People, not buildings.Counting harm to people as well as buildings, FEMA’s model puts cold waves at 9% of Spring Brook Township’s expected losses. Cold 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 Spring Brook Township’s grade

River and rain flooding is 89% of the building damage FEMA expects in Spring Brook Township, and Spring Brook Township’s rate of river and rain flooding damage is higher than 53% of U.S. census tracts.

Where Spring Brook Township sits
Spring Brook Township
Least damageMiddleMost damage

B+ #483 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania; lower expected damage per building than 74% of U.S. towns (21,298).

All of Spring Brook Township’s residents live in one census tract; the figures are that tract’s.

What drives the damage to buildings
River and rain flooding89%Hurricanes5%Everything else6%

The typical Pennsylvania town has lower expected damage than 71% of U.S. towns; within the state, Spring Brook Township has less expected damage per building than 53% of Pennsylvania towns.

In dollars, FEMA expects about $835K a year in losses across Spring Brook Township: $693K to buildings, the rest to people and crops.

Shared tract.All of Spring Brook Township’s 2,748 residents (2020 census) live in one census tract, which it shares with Thornhurst township (1,008 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 township’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 Spring Brook Township flood? No paid flood claims on record

FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Spring Brook Township. 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

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

Insurance rates: Lackawanna County.
Disasters

The storms Spring Brook Township remembers

None of the 18 disasters declared for Lackawanna County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Spring Brook Township itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.

Disasters declared, by decade
Paid out in Spring Brook TownshipLackawanna County only

Lackawanna County has had 18 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.

Next door

Spring Brook Township and its neighbors

Spring Brook Township is 5th of the 8 graded towns here, from least expected damage per building to most. Tap a town to see its hazards.

Pittston Township: hazard risk B+Covington Township: hazard risk A+Thornhurst Township: hazard risk B+Moscow: hazard risk AClifton Township: hazard risk A+Jenkins Township: hazard risk B−Scranton: hazard risk B−Pittston TownshipCovington TownshipThornhurst TownshipMoscowClifton TownshipJenkins TownshipScrantonSpring Brook Township
Lowest fifthSecondMiddleFourthHighest fifth
TownHazard riskMostly (buildings)Flood claims
Covington TownshipA+among the lowest damageriver and rain flooding4
Clifton TownshipA+less damage than 97%river and rain flooding2
MoscowAless damage than 89%river and rain flooding14
Thornhurst TownshipB+less damage than 74%river and rain flooding—
Spring Brook TownshipB+less damage than 74%river and rain flooding0
Pittston TownshipB+less damage than 65%river and rain flooding2
Jenkins TownshipB−less damage than 54%river and rain flooding170
ScrantonB−more damage than 54%river and rain flooding746

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 Spring Brook Township 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 Spring Brook Township

Is Spring Brook Township at risk for natural disasters?

On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Spring Brook Township has lower expected damage per building than 74% of U.S. towns: B+ for hazard risk, #483 of 1,037 in Pennsylvania. Most of the expected damage is river and rain flooding (89%). 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 Spring Brook Township 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 Lackawanna County, 29% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 1.2% of all homes do.

How much is flood insurance in Spring Brook Township?

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

Is Spring Brook Township at risk from river and rain flooding?

It is the largest share of the building damage FEMA expects here (89%), and Spring Brook Township’s rate for it is higher than 53% of U.S. census tracts.

Storm stories

Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Spring Brook Township.

Town Square →
Start the conversation

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