Natural Disasters by State Map: Is Your Area at Risk?

By: Diana Rodriguez-Zaba
Updated on: February 13, 2024

We don’t think of severe storms as natural disasters until sewers back up and basements flood. Tornadoes send everybody ducking for cover in a few, fast minutes, and then we spend days digging out from the damage.

Here locally, we see our share of Mother Nature at her scariest, but how do we compare to the rest of the nation? Just take a look at this US natural disaster map by state:

natural disaster map
Data source

Climate and Geography

Regional climate patterns play the biggest roles in natural disasters, but the lay of the land is an important factor too. While we think of California as the epicenter of the country’s earthquake activity, Nevada and Utah also experience upheavals as ancient mountains shift and grow.

Tornado Alley stretches from the Texas Plains to South Dakota, and New England winters are legendary for blizzards. Natural disasters in the U.S. range from wildfires up in Washington State to hurricanes down in Florida.

Chicago Disaster Records

Living on the shores of Lake Michigan, we deal with tornadoes, blizzards and severe rain storms almost every year. In 2015, Chicago shattered old records with 29 tornadoes tearing through the city in one season. That same year, we bundled up against blizzard conditions and more than 19 inches of snow over Super Bowl weekend.

You can probably name more than a few years that you remember when Chicago and the suburbs were swamped with heavy rains. Our worst flooding in more than 130 years put large areas of the city under water back in 2008, and that record will probably stand for a long time.

Standing Together as a Community

Even with the latest technologies and early warning systems, you can’t stop severe weather from doing its worst. We don’t worry too much about wildfires and landslides in Chicagoland, but we all know the dangers caused by seasonal downpours and freezing temperatures.

We also know how to react to these natural disasters. Once storms blow over, we get right to work putting things back to normal. Neighbors help neighbors, and we do our part too here at ServiceMaster by Zaba. Chicago proudly stands as a community of citizens who stand shoulder to shoulder through every kind of disaster.

We’re Always Prepared

Whether it’s destructive tornadoes or torrential rains, we’re ready for the aftermath. Our teams are on call 24/7 to handle all types of storm and flood damage cleanup in Chicago and the suburbs. You can depend on ServiceMaster Restoration by Zaba to always be prepared for any natural disaster across our great city.