Carter's Grove · Photo: Melissa Wilkins from USA · CC BY-SA 2.0Storms, floods and disasters in Yorktown
Yorktown isn’t graded for hazard risk: Yorktown has 128 residents; we grade towns of 1,000 or more.
What Yorktown 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
Tornadoes
Earthquakes
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 Yorktown flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Yorktown. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Yorktown isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: York County.1 federal disaster brought FEMA money to Yorktown
Disasters that paid out in Yorktown itself (aid to households or repair grants to Yorktown), newest first, with that year’s flood claims.
- 2003Hurricane Isabel1,813 households applied for aid$1.2M aid approved
York County has had 15 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.
Old photos of Yorktown after a storm or flood belong in the town’s history. Add one, or share what you remember below.
Add to the Yorktown archive →Get ready for what Yorktown 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.
- 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- 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 Yorktown
Is Yorktown 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 York County, 11.0% of all homes carry federal flood insurance.
How much is flood insurance in Yorktown?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Yorktown’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 Yorktown?
By FEMA money that reached Yorktown, Hurricane Isabel (2003): 1,813 households applied for aid, $1.2M approved.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Yorktown.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Yorktown’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.