Sitka City and Borough, Alaska: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Sitka City and Borough, Alaska has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 23.8 out of 100, higher than about 23% of US counties, with landslides, volcanic activity and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.3 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists no county-level federal disaster declaration for Sitka City and Borough apart from COVID-19. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Sitka City and Borough from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Alaska All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 8,434 Buildings worth $2.6 billion Area 4,864 sq mi Risk rank in Alaska 16 of 30 FIPS 02220
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Landslide | Relatively High | 99.2 | $1.6 million | about 14 a year | — |
| Volcanic activity | Relatively Moderate | 93.8 | $141,364 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 1 |
| Avalanche | Relatively Moderate | 85.2 | $913,383 | about once every 15 years | 2 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 83.9 | $2.2 million | about once every 19 years | — |
| Tsunami | Relatively Low | 55.4 | $2.0 million | about once every 3.3 years | 67 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 35.7 | $34,073 | about 6.8 a year | 81 |
| Coastal flooding | Very Low | 34.0 | $6,945 | about once every 100 years | — |
| Ice storm | Very Low | 23.0 | $18,741 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 8.7 | $2,526 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Lightning | Very Low | 4.5 | $13,299 | about 5 a year | 18,356 strikes |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 3.0 | $37 | about once every 37 years | 0.3 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 2.6 | $414,823 | about once every 2.0 years | 14 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 0.1 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Drought | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Hail | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Strong wind | 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 0
No county-level federal declaration on record apart from COVID-19.
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 Sitka City and Borough between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Sitka City and Borough compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sitka City and Borough (this page) | — | Very Low | 23.8 | Landslide |
| Hoonah-Angoon Census Area | 119 km | Very Low | 14.3 | Landslide |
| Petersburg Borough | 144 km | Very Low | 15.4 | Landslide |
| Juneau City and Borough | 150 km | Very Low | 11.5 | Landslide |
| Prince of Wales-Hyder Census Area | 209 km | Very Low | 1.0 | Landslide |
| Haines Borough | 209 km | Very Low | 4.3 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alaska, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 55.1 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very High 80.9 |
| Community risk factor | 1.16 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $7.3 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 Sitka City and Borough's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Alaska · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Volcanic activity: US volcano alerts
- Avalanche: Official warnings now
- 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 Sitka City and Borough
What natural disasters is Sitka City and Borough, Alaska most at risk from?
Sitka City and Borough, Alaska has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 23.8 out of 100, higher than about 23% of US counties, with landslides, volcanic activity and avalanches scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.3 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Sitka City and Borough had?
OpenFEMA lists no county-level federal disaster declaration for Sitka City and Borough apart from COVID-19. Another 24 Alaska declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Sitka City and Borough?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Sitka City and Borough 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.