Alexander-Hill House · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0On FEMA’s figures, Keowee Key faces about as much hazard damage per building as the typical U.S. town, mostly from river and rain flooding
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Keowee Key gets a C+ for hazard risk: higher expected damage per building than 56% of U.S. towns, #105 of 169 in South Carolina. Most of that expected damage is river and rain flooding (84%). FEMA’s files show no paid flood insurance claims here.
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
What Keowee Key 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
Tornadoes
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.
What’s behind Keowee Key’s grade
River and rain flooding is 84% of the building damage FEMA expects in Keowee Key, and Keowee Key’s rate of river and rain flooding damage is higher than 73% of U.S. census tracts. Ice storms add 3%, at a rate in the top 6% of U.S. census tracts.
C+ #105 of 169 in South Carolina; higher expected damage per building than 56% of U.S. towns (21,298).
All of Keowee Key’s residents live in one census tract; the figures are that tract’s.
The typical South Carolina town has lower expected damage than 55% of U.S. towns; within the state, Keowee Key has more expected damage per building than 62% of South Carolina towns.
In dollars, FEMA expects about $2.3M a year in losses across Keowee Key: $1.6M to buildings, the rest to people and crops.
Does Keowee Key flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Keowee Key. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Keowee Key isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Oconee County.The storms Keowee Key remembers
None of the 17 disasters declared for Oconee County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Keowee Key itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Oconee County has had 17 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then winter storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Get ready for what Keowee Key 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.
- Pick your spot now: the lowest floor, an inside room, no windows.
- A watch means be ready; a warning means take cover now.
- Keep shoes and a flashlight by the bed.
- 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 Keowee Key
Is Keowee Key at risk for natural disasters?
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Keowee Key has higher expected damage per building than 56% of U.S. towns: C+ for hazard risk, #105 of 169 in South Carolina. Most of the expected damage is river and rain flooding (84%) and tornadoes (6%). 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 Keowee Key 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 Oconee County, 10% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.2% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Keowee Key?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Keowee Key’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Is Keowee Key at risk from river and rain flooding?
It is the largest share of the building damage FEMA expects here (84%), and Keowee Key’s rate for it is higher than 73% of U.S. census tracts.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Keowee Key.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Keowee Key’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.