Saipan Municipality, Northern Mariana Islands: Natural Disaster Risk and History
FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025) gives Saipan Municipality, Northern Mariana Islands no overall risk score (insufficient data); the hazards with the largest estimated yearly losses are tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, $56 million a year in all.
OpenFEMA lists 22 federal disaster declarations that included Saipan Municipality since 1987, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3658-MP (Tropical Storm Champi, declared 17 October 2026). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Saipan Municipality from 1950 to 2025.
Official warnings now All official warnings
Population 43,385 Buildings worth $6.3 billion Area 254 sq mi FIPS 69110
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tsunami | Insufficient Data | — | $31 million | about once every 8.2 years | 27 |
| Hurricane | Insufficient Data | — | $22 million | about once every 4.5 years | 17 |
| Earthquake | Insufficient Data | — | $3.0 million | about once every 25 years | — |
| Coastal flooding | Insufficient Data | — | $46,884 | about once every 3.1 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Insufficient Data | — | $9,781 | about once every 14 years | 2 |
| Volcanic activity | Insufficient Data | — | $2,092 | about once every 49 years | 3 |
| Cold wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | 0 |
| Heat wave | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | 0 |
| Winter weather | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | 0 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Drought | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Hail | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Landslide | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Lightning | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Strong wind | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Tornado | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
| Wildfire | Insufficient Data | — | — | — | — |
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 22
Most common: Typhoon 15, Tropical Storm 6, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1980s | 1 | Typhoon |
| 1990s | 2 | Typhoon ×2 |
| 2000s | 4 | Typhoon ×4 |
| 2010s | 7 | Typhoon ×7 |
| 2020s | 8 | Tropical Storm ×6, Typhoon, Hurricane |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Saipan Municipality
- Tropical Storm Champi (2026, EM-3658-MP): 3 Northern Mariana Islands counties designated.
- Super Typhoon Bavi (2026, DR-4931-MP): 3 Northern Mariana Islands counties designated.
- Typhoon Bavi (2026, EM-3647-MP): 3 Northern Mariana Islands counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Tropical Storm Champi (2026), Super Typhoon Bavi (2026), Typhoon Bavi (2026), Super Typhoon Sinlaku (2026), Typhoon Sinlaku (2026), Tropical Storm Bolaven (2023), Typhoon Mawar (2023), Typhoon Bualoi (2019), Typhoon Hagibis (2019), Super Typhoon Yutu (2018), Typhoon Yutu (2018), Typhoon Mangkhut (2018), Typhoon Soudelor (2015), Typhoon Nabi (2005), Super Typhoon Ch (2004), Super Typhoon Pongsona (2002), Super Typhoon Keith (1997), Typhoon Koryn (1990), Typhoon Lynn (1987).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included.
Tornado record since 1950 0
No tornado in NOAA's Storm Prediction Center record touched Saipan Municipality between 1950 and 2025. That does not mean one cannot happen.
How Saipan Municipality compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saipan Municipality (this page) | — | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Tinian Municipality | 24 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Rota Municipality | 129 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Guam, GU | 221 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
| Kauai County, HI | 5781 km | Relatively Moderate | 84.4 | Landslide |
| Western District, AS | 5798 km | Insufficient Data | — | — |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Northern Mariana Islands, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Data Unavailable |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Data Unavailable |
| Community risk factor | — |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $56 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 Saipan Municipality's main hazards
- Right now: official warnings · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Tsunami: Tsunamis recorded
- Hurricane: Is there a hurricane now? · Cyclone preparation
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- 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 Saipan Municipality
What natural disasters is Saipan Municipality, Northern Mariana Islands most at risk from?
FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025) gives Saipan Municipality, Northern Mariana Islands no overall risk score (insufficient data); the hazards with the largest estimated yearly losses are tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes, $56 million a year in all.
How many federal disaster declarations has Saipan Municipality had?
OpenFEMA lists 22 federal disaster declarations that included Saipan Municipality since 1987, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3658-MP (Tropical Storm Champi, declared 17 October 2026).
How many tornadoes have hit Saipan Municipality?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has no tornado on record touching Saipan Municipality 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.