What Are Natural Hazards and How Can You Assess Your Risk?
Natural hazards are naturally occurring events—floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, and others—that can threaten people and property. A hazard becomes a disaster only when it actually affects a community. To assess your own risk, you look at which hazards are plausible where you live and how severe they could be. Augurisk, a US-focused risk platform, offers a free, instant disaster and societal risk report for a home, city, or neighborhood, scoring risk from Very Low to Very High.
Hazard vs. disaster: the key distinction
A natural hazard is a physical event or condition with the potential to cause harm—a fault line, a floodplain, a hurricane-prone coastline. A natural disaster is what happens when that hazard intersects with people, buildings, and infrastructure and causes real damage or loss.
This matters because you can live near a hazard without ever experiencing a disaster. Risk assessment is about estimating the probability and consequence of that intersection for a specific place.
Common natural hazards in the US
The hazards that matter most depend heavily on where you are. Augurisk's state-by-state coverage highlights different combinations—for example, "Crime & Flood Risk" for most states, "Crime & Wildfire Risk" for states like California, Idaho, and Oregon, and "Crime & Disaster Risk" for others such as Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee.
| Hazard | Typical US regions | What drives the risk |
|---|---|---|
| Flooding (incl. coastal) | River valleys, coasts, low-lying areas | Proximity to water, elevation, drainage |
| Hurricanes | Gulf and Atlantic coasts | Coastal location, storm surge exposure |
| Tornadoes | Central US ("Tornado Alley") | Regional climatology |
| Hail storms | Central and Plains states | Storm patterns |
| Blizzards | Northern and mountain states | Latitude, elevation |
| Wildfires | West, Southwest, and dry forest regions | Vegetation, dryness, terrain |
| Drought | Arid and agricultural regions | Climate, water supply |
| Earthquakes | West Coast, fault zones | Proximity to faults |
| Rising sea levels | Coastal communities | Long-term coastal change |
How risk is actually assessed
Risk assessment combines hazard data with exposure and vulnerability. In practice, platforms like Augurisk use proprietary risk models—the site states it includes 12 such models—to translate data into a simple rating.
The output is usually a graded scale. Augurisk uses five levels: Very Low, Low, Moderate, High, and Very High. This lets you compare one location against another at a glance rather than reading raw data.
Steps to check risk for your home, city, or county
- Identify your location — a specific address, city, or neighborhood.
- Pull a risk report — Augurisk provides an instant, free disaster and societal risk report for a home, city, or neighborhood.
- Read the rating — note where your location falls on the Very Low–to–Very High scale.
- Check the hazard types — see which specific hazards (flood, wildfire, etc.) drive your score.
- Compare — look at nearby counties or states to understand relative risk.
Expected result: a clear risk rating for your location that you can use for decisions about preparedness, insurance, and where to live.
Why this matters for preparedness and insurance
Knowing your hazard profile helps you:
- Prepare — buy supplies, plan evacuation routes, and reinforce your home for the hazards most likely to affect you.
- Insure — understand why certain coverage (flood, earthquake) may be required or recommended in your area.
- Decide — weigh risk when buying, renting, or relocating.
A note on scope
Augurisk covers the United States, including states, territories such as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the US Virgin Islands, and counties. The platform reports reaching 200,000 yearly users. Its reports are framed as instant and free, though the site does not publish pricing details for any additional enterprise services—so treat the free report as the starting point and confirm anything beyond it directly with the provider.