Photo: Pete Forsyth · CC BY 3.0On FEMA’s figures, Puget Island faces more hazard damage per building than 91% of U.S. towns, mostly from river and rain flooding
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Puget Island gets a D for hazard risk: higher expected damage per building than 91% of U.S. towns. Most of that expected damage is river and rain flooding (53%), then coastal flooding (26%). 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 Puget Island 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
Coastal flooding
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.
What’s behind Puget Island’s grade
River and rain flooding is 53% of the building damage FEMA expects in Puget Island, and Puget Island’s rate of river and rain flooding damage is higher than 85% of U.S. census tracts. Coastal flooding adds 26%, at a rate in the top 1% of U.S. census tracts.
D higher expected damage per building than 91% of U.S. towns (21,298).
All of Puget Island’s residents live in one census tract; the figures are that tract’s.
In dollars, FEMA expects about $1.3M a year in losses across Puget Island: $709K to buildings, the rest to people and crops.
Does Puget Island flood? No paid flood claims on record
FEMA’s records show no paid flood insurance claims in Puget Island. That’s not a promise: most homes don’t carry flood insurance, so small floods go unrecorded.
Puget Island isn’t in FEMA’s Community Rating System, which cuts flood insurance up to 45% in towns that do extra flood-proofing.
Insurance rates: Wahkiakum County.The storms Puget Island remembers
None of the 28 disasters declared for Wahkiakum County shows FEMA aid or repair money reaching Puget Island itself in FEMA’s records, so these are its biggest flood-claim years.
Wahkiakum County has had 28 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.
Get ready for what Puget Island 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.
- 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.
- 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 Puget Island
Is Puget Island at risk for natural disasters?
On FEMA’s National Risk Index, Puget Island has higher expected damage per building than 91% of U.S. towns: D for hazard risk. Most of the expected damage is river and rain flooding (53%) and coastal flooding (26%). 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 Puget Island 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 Wahkiakum County, 5.3% of all homes carry federal flood insurance.
How much is flood insurance in Puget Island?
FEMA’s Community Rating System list shows no discount for Puget Island’s flood program. Premiums depend on the building; policies usually start 30 days after you buy, so get a quote early.
Is Puget Island at risk from river and rain flooding?
It is the largest share of the building damage FEMA expects here (53%), and Puget Island’s rate for it is higher than 85% of U.S. census tracts.
Storm stories
Memories, warnings and help from neighbors in Puget Island.
Sources: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (December 2025), census-tract table, combined by where Puget Island’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.