Prince George's County, MD Climate Risk & Resilience Profile

Last updated: September 30, 2026 · Scores from FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025)

Prince George's County has the lowest community resilience score in Maryland, 29.8, rated relatively low. FEMA's risk score weighs expected losses against social vulnerability and community resilience, so the county's $121.8 million a year in expected losses, fourth in the state, produce the third-highest risk score, 93.2. Inland flooding makes up 54% of those losses.

What drives the risk

Flooding comes from streams and from rain that overwhelms storm drains, and FEMA's $65.1 million estimate counts both. Cheverly, for one, experiences regular flooding and had a major flood in 2020.

Below flooding, three hazards cost roughly the same: heat waves at $11.9 million a year, tornadoes at $11.0 million and hurricanes at $10.9 million. The Maryland Department of Health reports that Prince George's and Baltimore City had the most heat-related deaths in the state in 2023 and 2024.

Where the mitigation money has gone

FEMA lists 22 funded projects since fiscal 1994, worth $9.8 million, or 7% of Maryland's mitigation money for 11% of its expected losses. That is the closest match among Maryland's four largest-loss jurisdictions, and more than half of it has come since fiscal 2020.

Five projects in the county were funded under DR-4491, Maryland's COVID-19 declaration, more than in any other jurisdiction, including $1.1 million for floodwater storage and diversion. In fiscal 2024, congressionally directed grants added $1.7 million for Cheverly's storm drains and a town flood plan and $1.4 million for flood control in the Anacostia River watershed. Earlier grants bought out 12 landslide-prone properties.

The mitigation plan

The County Council adopted the joint plan with the City of Laurel through Resolution CR-65-2023 on September 26, 2023, and FEMA approved it by letter on November 3, 2023. It runs through September 25, 2028. The county's 2024 progress report shows a countywide flood assessment, including mapping of rain-driven flooding, underway in several watersheds, and a 40-gauge flood warning system in operation. It also shows a high-priority action to prohibit waivers for development in floodplains as not implemented.

What we'd look at next

The county has shown it can win flood money when projects are ready, and the countywide flood assessment should feed the next list. The floodplain waiver action is where we'd start. With the lowest resilience score in the state, Prince George's can least afford new exposure in places it already knows will flood.

Hazards ranked by expected annual loss

What FEMA expects each hazard to cost Prince George's County in an average year, in damage to buildings and crops and in the dollar value it puts on deaths and injuries. Inland flooding leads at $65.1M a year.

Inland Flooding$65.1M54%
Heat Wave$11.9M10%
Tornado$11M9%
Hurricane$10.9M9%
Earthquake$8.3M7%
Lightning$3.7M3%
Strong Wind$3M2%
Cold Wave$2.9M2%

Of the $121.8M total: buildings $85.6M, people $34.9M, agriculture $1.2M.

All 18 hazards FEMA scores

Hazard	Expected annual loss	Loss rating	Risk rating	Events on record
Inland Flooding	$65.14M	Relatively High	Relatively High	117
Heat Wave	$11.9M	Relatively High	Relatively High	103
Tornado	$11.02M	Relatively High	Relatively High	26
Hurricane	$10.86M	Relatively High	Relatively Moderate	24
Earthquake	$8.29M	Relatively Moderate	Relatively Moderate	—
Lightning	$3.7M	Very High	Very High	—
Strong Wind	$2.99M	Relatively High	Relatively High	275
Cold Wave	$2.89M	Relatively Moderate	Relatively Moderate	23
Winter Weather	$1.71M	Very High	Very High	177
Hail	$1.64M	Relatively Moderate	Relatively Moderate	127
Drought	$1.05M	Relatively Moderate	Relatively Moderate	154
Ice Storm	$392K	Relatively Moderate	Relatively Moderate	24
Coastal Flooding	$106K	Relatively Low	Relatively Low	—
Landslide	$59K	Relatively Low	Relatively Moderate	—
Wildfire	$27K	Very Low	Very Low	—
Avalanche	—	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	—
Tsunami	—	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	—
Volcanic Activity	—	Not Applicable	Not Applicable	—

FEMA hazard mitigation grants

Projects FEMA has funded in Prince George's County through its Hazard Mitigation Assistance programs, as OpenFEMA lists them. Grants to towns and cities inside the county count here; statewide grants don’t.

Funded projects: 22
Federal share: $9.8M
Fiscal years: 1994–2024

By program

HMGP · Hazard Mitigation Grant Program$3.7M · 10 projects
LPDM · Legislative Pre-Disaster Mitigation$3.1M · 2 projects
PDM · Pre-Disaster Mitigation$2.7M · 6 projects
BRIC · Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities$260K · 2 projects
FMA · Flood Mitigation Assistance$94K · 2 projects

Most recent projects

FY2024 · LPDM · Obligated$1.38M
Other Non Construction
Maryland Department of Emergency
FY2024 · LPDM · Obligated$1.69M
Other Non Construction
Town of Cheverly
FY2021 · BRIC · Awarded$209K
Snow Hill Manor Park Stream Restoration Project
Prince George's County, Maryland
FY2020 · HMGP · Approved$881K
Vegetation Management - Non Coastal Shoreline Stabilization
Prince George's (County)
FY2020 · HMGP · Approved$1.12M
Floodwater Storage and Diversion
Prince George's (County)
FY2020 · HMGP · Approved$144K
Stormwater Management - Diversions
Prince George's (County)
FY2020 · HMGP · Approved$232K
Generators
Laurel
FY2020 · HMGP · Approved$81K
Public Awareness and Education (Brochures, Workshops, Videos, etc.)
Prince George's (County)

FY	Project	Recipient	Federal share	Status
2024	Other Non ConstructionLPDM · LPDM-PJ-03-MD-2024-006	Maryland Department of Emergency	$1.38M	Obligated
2024	Other Non ConstructionLPDM · LPDM-PJ-03-MD-2024-004	Town of Cheverly	$1.69M	Obligated
2021	Snow Hill Manor Park Stream Restoration ProjectBRIC · EMP-2021-BR-053-0010	Prince George's County, Maryland	$209K	Awarded
2020	Vegetation Management - Non Coastal Shoreline StabilizationHMGP · DR-4491-0017-R	Prince George's (County)	$881K	Approved
2020	Floodwater Storage and DiversionHMGP · DR-4491-0018-R	Prince George's (County)	$1.12M	Approved
2020	Stormwater Management - DiversionsHMGP · DR-4491-0016-R	Prince George's (County)	$144K	Approved
2020	GeneratorsHMGP · DR-4491-0012-R	Laurel	$232K	Approved
2020	Public Awareness and Education (Brochures, Workshops, Videos, etc.)HMGP · DR-4491-0009-F	Prince George's (County)	$81K	Approved

What the money paid for most often

Local Multihazard Mitigation Plan ×5
Other Non Construction ×2
Acquisition of Private Real Property (Structures and Land) - Riverine ×2
Acquisition of Private Real Property (Structures and Land) - Landslide ×2

Hazard mitigation plan

Prince George's County and City of Laurel Hazard Mitigation Plan 2023

A joint plan with the City of Laurel, adopted by the County Council through Resolution CR-65-2023. It names 43 mitigation actions for the county, 15 of them on flooding.

Adopted: September 2023
FEMA approval runs to: September 25, 2028

Frequently Asked Questions

Inland flooding. FEMA's National Risk Index puts Prince George's County's expected losses from inland flooding at $65.1 million a year, 54% of the county's $121.8 million total across 18 hazards. Heat waves ($11.9 million), tornadoes ($11.0 million) and hurricanes ($10.9 million) come next, each close to a tenth of the total.

Prince George's County shares its 2023 Hazard Mitigation Plan with the City of Laurel. The County Council adopted it through Resolution CR-65-2023 on September 26, 2023, FEMA approved it by letter on November 3, 2023, and the plan expires September 25, 2028. It lists 43 mitigation actions for the county, 15 of them on flooding.

Prince George's County's FEMA risk score, 93.2, ranks third in Maryland even though its expected losses, $121.8 million a year, rank fourth. FEMA scales expected losses by social vulnerability and community resilience, and the county's resilience score of 29.8 is the lowest in Maryland, so the same losses count for more.

Neighboring counties

About this data

Scores. FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025 release) ranks every U.S. county against all the others. A score is a percentile: a risk score of 82 means a higher value than 82% of counties. The risk index is the expected annual loss scaled up for higher social vulnerability and down for stronger community resilience. FEMA groups risk and loss into five ratings by natural breaks, and vulnerability and resilience into national fifths.

Expected annual loss is FEMA’s modeled average yearly loss from 18 natural hazards to buildings (at replacement value), crops and livestock, and people, whose expected deaths and injuries FEMA converts to dollars. It is an average, not a forecast: a low-risk county can still have a bad year.

Vulnerability and resilience. Social vulnerability comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Community Resilience Estimates. Community resilience is FEMA’s version of the University of South Carolina’s Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (2020), which counts past mitigation spending among its inputs. Vulnerability scores bottom out: 334 of the 3,144 counties scored, 8 of them in Maryland, share the lowest score, 10.6. Population is the 2020 Census count.

Grants are FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance awards in Maryland that are closed, approved, obligated or awarded: the projects in OpenFEMA’s older project file, which FEMA froze on August 31, 2026, plus the grants FEMA has managed in FEMA GO since fiscal 2020, from HMA Subapplications (both retrieved September 30, 2026). Projects FEMA now lists as withdrawn or denied are left out unless money was obligated to them. Amounts are the federal share obligated. Each grant counts toward the county it serves; 103 statewide grants ($24.1M) count toward none.

FEMA describes the index as one source for risk-reduction decisions, to weigh alongside benefit-cost analysis and local knowledge.

National Risk Index Risk Index data (OpenFEMA)HMA Subapplications (OpenFEMA)Risk Index FAQ (FEMA, PDF)

Talk to Our Team

Working on resilience in Prince George's County?

Council Fire helps local governments and their partners turn risk data like this into plans and projects their communities support.