O.J. Gendron Ranch · Photo: Jon Roanhaus · CC BY-SA 3.0For wildfire, Moxee’s building-damage rate is in the top 5% of U.S. census tracts
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Moxee gets a C+ for hazard risk: higher expected damage per building than 64% of U.S. towns, #80 of 285 in Washington. Most of that expected damage is river and rain flooding (62%), then earthquakes (27%). 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 Moxee 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
Earthquakes
Wildfire
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 Moxee’s grade
River and rain flooding is 62% of the building damage FEMA expects in Moxee, and Moxee’s rate of river and rain flooding damage is higher than 60% of U.S. census tracts. Wildfire adds 10%, at a rate in the top 5% of U.S. census tracts.
C+ #80 of 285 in Washington; higher expected damage per building than 64% of U.S. towns (21,298).
All of Moxee’s residents live in one census tract; the figures are that tract’s.
The typical Washington town has higher expected damage than 76% of U.S. towns; within the state, Moxee has less expected damage per building than 72% of Washington towns.
In dollars, FEMA expects about $3.6M a year in losses across Moxee: $1.2M to buildings, the rest to people and crops.
Does Moxee flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Moxee. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Moxee isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Yakima County.The storms Moxee remembers
None of the 19 disasters declared for Yakima County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Moxee itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Yakima County has had 19 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 16 FEMA wildfire suppression grants (Fire Management Assistance, not a disaster declaration) for fires in Yakima County, 2000–2026.
Get ready for what Moxee 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.
- Drop, cover and hold on.
- Strap tall furniture and the water heater to the wall.
- Know how to shut off the gas.
- Clear dead leaves and brush within 5 feet of the house.
- Sign up for local alerts and know two ways out.
- Keep N95 masks for smoky days.
- 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 Moxee
Is Moxee at risk for natural disasters?
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Moxee has higher expected damage per building than 64% of U.S. towns: C+ for hazard risk, #80 of 285 in Washington. Most of the expected damage is river and rain flooding (62%) and earthquakes (27%). 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 Moxee 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 Yakima County, 16% of homes in mapped flood zones carry federal flood insurance, and 0.9% of all homes do.
How much is flood insurance in Moxee?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Moxee’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Is Moxee at risk from river and rain flooding?
It is the largest share of the building damage FEMA expects here (62%), and Moxee’s rate for it is higher than 60% of U.S. census tracts.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Moxee.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Moxee’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.