Bethel Census Area, Alaska: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Bethel Census Area, Alaska has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 44.3 out of 100, higher than about 44% of US counties, with cold waves, winter storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $8.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Bethel Census Area since 1989, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4893-AK (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong, declared 22 October 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Bethel Census Area from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Alaska All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 18,633 Buildings worth $2.9 billion Area 46,016 sq mi Risk rank in Alaska 11 of 30 FIPS 02050
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold wave | Relatively High | 94.9 | $6.6 million | about 4.5 a year | 81 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 89.7 | $236,601 | about 11 a year | 197 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 83.8 | $372,225 | about once every 376 years | — |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | 74.7 | $8,070 | about once every 30 years | 1 |
| Earthquake | Very Low | 49.4 | $157,801 | about once every 17 years | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 42.0 | $4 | about once every 32 years | 8 |
| Landslide | Very Low | 37.8 | $335 | about once every 2.7 years | — |
| Lightning | Relatively Low | 27.5 | $58,665 | about 21 a year | 46,875 strikes |
| Tsunami | Very Low | 16.9 | $54,262 | about once every 72 years | 2 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 9.6 | $759,399 | about once every 200 years | 0 |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 4.8 | $1,306 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 1.4 | $783 | about once every 21 years | 2 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 1.0 | $189 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Hail | Very Low | 0.9 | $82 | about once every 917 years | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | — |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Heat wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 18
Most common: Flood 9, Severe Storm 6, Fire 1, Snowstorm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 2 | Flood, Freezing |
| 1990s | 1 | Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 7 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm ×3, Fire |
| 2010s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Flood ×2 |
| 2020s | 4 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Bethel Census Area
- Severe Winter Storms and Avalanches (2000, DR-1316-AK): 15 Alaska counties designated.
- Severe Freezing (1989, DR-826-AK): 11 Alaska counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong (2025, DR-4893-AK): 6 Alaska counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Typhoon Halong (2025).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Alaska also had 24 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Bethel Census Area between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Bethel Census Area compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bethel Census Area (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 44.3 | Cold wave |
| Dillingham Census Area | 149 km | Very Low | 35.7 | Cold wave |
| Kusilvak Census Area | 237 km | Relatively Low | 57.9 | Cold wave |
| Bristol Bay Borough | 297 km | Very Low | 1.2 | Earthquake |
| Lake and Peninsula Borough | 317 km | Very Low | 6.3 | Volcanic activity |
| Kenai Peninsula Borough | 449 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.0 | Avalanche |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alaska, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 100.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 39.1 |
| Community risk factor | 1.77 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $8.3 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Bethel Census Area's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Alaska · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Cold wave: Carbon monoxide in winter · Power outages now
- Winter weather: Power outages now · Carbon monoxide in winter
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Bethel Census Area
What natural disasters is Bethel Census Area, Alaska most at risk from?
Bethel Census Area, Alaska has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 44.3 out of 100, higher than about 44% of US counties, with cold waves, winter storms and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $8.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Bethel Census Area had?
OpenFEMA lists 18 federal disaster declarations that included Bethel Census Area since 1989, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is DR-4893-AK (Severe Storms, Flooding, and Remnants of Typhoon Halong, declared 22 October 2025). Another 24 Alaska declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Bethel Census Area?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Bethel Census Area from 1950 to 2025.
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.