Salley Historic District · Photo: Bill Fitzpatrick · CC BY-SA 3.0Storms, floods and disasters in Salley
Salley isn’t graded for hazard risk: Salley has 288 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Salley 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
Hurricanes
Earthquakes
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.
Does Salley flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Salley. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Salley isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Aiken County.4 federal disasters brought FEMA money to Salley
Disasters that paid out in Salley itself (aid to households or repair grants to the Town of Salley), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2024Hurricane Helene403 households applied for aid$463K aid approved
- 2020Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Straight-line Winds9 households applied for aid$13K aid approved
- 2014Severe Winter Storm$5K to the Town of Salley for repairs
- 2004Severe Ice Storm$10K to the Town of Salley for repairs
Aiken County has had 16 natural disasters declared by the President since 1953, most often hurricanes and tropical storms, then severe storms. Not counted: the 2005 Hurricane Katrina evacuee emergency, which covered counties that took in evacuees.
Old photos of Salley after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Salley archive →Get ready for what Salley 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.
- The season runs June through November and peaks from mid-August to mid-October.
- Bring in porch furniture and anything the wind can throw.
- Fill the gas tank and charge phones before the storm arrives.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- 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 Salley
Is Salley 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 Aiken County, 47% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.6% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Salley?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Salley’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 Salley?
By FEMA money that reached Salley, Hurricane Helene (2024): 403 households applied for aid, $463K approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Salley.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Salley’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.