Natural disaster risk in Wisconsin

How disaster-prone is Wisconsin?

Wisconsin (WI) sits at a low level of federally recognized natural-disaster risk, with 2 FEMA disaster declarations on record, including 2 Major Disaster declarations (DR) that triggered full federal individual and public assistance. The dominant declaration type is Flood, followed by . Declaration counts at the state level reflect the cumulative federal footprint: large multi-county events count once per state, but repeat hazard patterns across decades are visible in the breakdown below.

NOAA's Storm Events Database adds the near-term severe-weather lens. Between 2015 and 2025, Wisconsin recorded 15,283 individual storm events, causing 205 fatalities and 439 injuries, with combined property and crop damage estimated at $906.4M. The most frequent event types in the state are Thunderstorm Wind (3,821 events), Hail (2,979 events), Winter Weather (2,176 events). Across the state's 5 analyzed counties, FEMA's own National Risk Index flags 1 as high-risk, with an average county Risk Index score (FEMA's own formula, distinct from our Risk Score tool below) of 85.2/100.

NFIP claims data is limited or absent for this state in the current extract, which usually indicates low flood-policy penetration rather than zero flood risk. The highest-Expected-Annual-Loss hazard across the state is Cold Wave, estimated at $0.3B annually. Drill into individual counties for localized risk, read FEMA's hazard-specific briefings, and review insurance and flood-zone designations, state-level averages can mask sharp county-to-county differences in exposure and resilience.