Home School · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0On FEMA’s figures, Home faces more hazard damage per building than 87% of U.S. towns, mostly from earthquakes
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Home gets a D for hazard risk: higher expected damage per building than 87% of U.S. towns. Most of that expected damage is earthquakes (60%), then river and rain flooding (33%). 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 Home faces
Each hazard’s share of the building damage FEMA expects here, and how its rate compares with the rest of the country.
Earthquakes
River and rain flooding
Coastal flooding
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 Home’s grade
Earthquakes are 60% of the building damage FEMA expects in Home, and Home’s rate of earthquakes damage is in the top 7% of U.S. census tracts. Coastal flooding adds 7%, at a rate in the top 2% of U.S. census tracts.
D higher expected damage per building than 87% of U.S. towns (21,298).
Home’s residents live in 2 census tracts; FEMA’s figures are combined by where they live.
In dollars, FEMA expects about $985K a year in losses across Home: $737K to buildings, the rest to people and crops.
Does Home flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Home. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Home isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Pierce County.The storms Home remembers
None of the 21 disasters declared for Pierce County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Home itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Pierce County has had 21 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.
Also 1 FEMA wildfire suppression grant (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Pierce County, 2020–2020.
Home and its neighbors
Home is 2nd of the 3 graded towns here, from least expected damage per building to most. Tap a town to see its hazards.
| Town | Hazard risk | Mostly (buildings) | Flood claims |
|---|---|---|---|
| Longbranch | C−more damage than 83% | earthquakes | — |
| Home | Dmore damage than 87% | earthquakes | 0 |
| Key Center | Dmore damage than 87% | earthquakes | 3 |
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 Home faces
A short kit for the hazards that drive the building damage here, what to check before you buy, and where neighbors get alerts.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- 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.
- Know your evacuation zone and the way off the coast.
- Storm surge comes fast: leave when you’re told, not when the water arrives.
- Move cars to high ground before king tides and nor’easters.
- 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 Home
Is Home at risk for natural disasters?
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Home has higher expected damage per building than 87% of U.S. towns: D for hazard risk. Most of the expected damage is earthquakes (60%) and river and rain flooding (33%). This is FEMA’s model of an average year for today’s buildings, not a forecast.
Is Home 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 Pierce County, 44% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.7% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Home?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Home’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Is Home at risk from earthquakes?
It is the largest share of the building damage FEMA expects here (60%), and Home’s rate for it is in the top 7% of U.S. census tracts.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Home.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Home’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.