Brown County, MN Environment & Hazard Risk

• Cold waveRelatively High$10.1M/yr expected annual loss, about 11 events a year
• Winter weatherRelatively Moderate$341K/yr expected annual loss, about 22 events a year
• Strong windRelatively Moderate$1.5M/yr expected annual loss, about 3.4 events a year
• DroughtRelatively Moderate$584K/yr expected annual loss, about 12 events a year
• HailRelatively Low$651K/yr expected annual loss, about 4.6 events a year
• TornadoRelatively Low$2.3M/yr expected annual loss, about once every 2 years
• LandslideVery Low$2,279/yr expected annual loss, about once every 13 years
• Ice stormRelatively Low$121K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 2 years
• Heat waveRelatively Low$388K/yr expected annual loss, about 5.3 events a year
• WildfireVery Low$14.8K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 7,586 years
• EarthquakeVery Low$12.3K/yr expected annual loss, about once every 3,021 years
• LightningVery Low$30.2K/yr expected annual loss, about 37 events a year

Bars show the national percentile score (0 to 100) for each hazard. Dollar figures are expected annual losses to buildings, people and crops. Not rated here: avalanche, coastal flooding, hurricane, riverine flooding, tsunami, volcanic activity.

Check the flood zone for an address

Homes with flood insurance

29 of 15,800 (0.2%)

Homes in high-risk flood zones

145

Insured in high-risk zones

14 (10%)

Flood claims since 1978

35

Claims paid since 1978

$493K

• Thunderstorm Wind108
• Hail91
• Winter Storm64
• Blizzard35
• Extreme Cold/Wind Chill27 · 2 deaths
• Tornado21 · 1 death
• Winter Weather17
• High Wind16
• Flood15
• Heavy Snow13

• TornadoF4, 25 mi path, 2,200 yd wide03/30/1998

  Comfrey, Brown County

  1 death, 16 injured, $45M damage

  What happened

  Tornado began 7 miles east of Avoca in Murray county, continued through Cottonwood, Brown, extreme Northwest Watonwan, Northwest Blue Earth, and finally lifted off 4 miles east of Courtland in Nicollet county. Total storm track was 67 miles. The tornado ripped through the village of Comfrey destroying a grain elevator and damaging 75% of the town. Much of downtown Comfrey destroyed including the town hall. School heavily damaged. 100 people made homeless. 50 homes destroyed. 130 farmsteads damaged or destroyed in Brown county. 500 dairy cows killed. One man critically injured in collapse of farmstead northwest of the town of Hanska. He died the next day. 35 buildings destroyed or damaged in far Northwest Blue Earth county. Damage estimate estimated. Property damage to extreme northwest Blue Earth county across Cambria township estimated at 2 million. Property damage to extreme northwest Watonwan county estimated at 245 thousand.

• Thunderstorm Wind83 kt wind07/20/1998

  New Ulm, Brown County

  $11M damage

  What happened

  4,000 trees blown down. 10 businesses lost portions of their roof. Mobile home destroyed. Maintenance hangar at airport destroyed, damaging several airplanes. 400 ft TV tower blown down. Poultry bldg levelled at fairgrounds. Reception hall lost its roof. Large trees blown down at local cemeteries. The statue of Hermann the German damaged. Estimated 5% of crops or about 50,000 acres in county destroyed. Damage estimate for entire county.

• Extreme Cold/Wind Chill01/02/2008

  Brown

  1 death

  What happened

  A strong arctic cold front moved into central and southern Minnesota on January 1, dropping temperatures below zero. A two year old boy in New Ulm wandered into the cold sometime Wednesday morning, January 2, and was found by his mother at 0745 CST, less than one block from home. He was pronounced dead at the New Ulm Medical Center. The temperature at New Ulm airport dropped below zero around 0100 CST, and fell to eight below zero by 0700 CST. The temperature warmed back above zero by 1000 CST.

• Extreme Cold/Wind Chill01/02/2014

  Brown

  1 death

  What happened

  A man apparently fell outside his New Ulm home during the afternoon and died that evening due to exposure from the cold. The high temperature at New Ulm that afternoon was Zero degrees F, and a few hours later, the temperature fell to -18 F during the evening of the 2nd. The wind chill during that time was mostly -25 to -30 and a wind chill advisory was in effect that evening for the area.

• TornadoF0, 0.5 mi path, 30 yd wide08/24/2006

  Searles, Brown County

  2 injured, $200K damage

  What happened

  The tornado tore across corn and bean fields, and crossed both Highways 15 and 68. It blew two semis off Highway 15, injuring two individuals. A machine shed was destroyed, and minor damage was incurred by some barns and outbuildings.

• Thunderstorm Wind65 kt wind05/23/2012

  New Ulm Arpt, Brown County

  $1M damage

  What happened

  A 75 mph wind gust was measured at the New Ulm airport. In addition, several buildings east and northeast of the airport were damaged, with damage to parts of the New Ulm Airport terminal building roof. The buildings that were damaged outside of the airport grounds were a car dealership where 50-60 cars were damaged or destroyed, an international trucking company, a cabinet machine shop and a local department store. Each of these companies had mainly roof damage.

• New UlmServes 14,052 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations
• Sleepy EyeServes 3,599 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations
• SpringfieldServes 2,070 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations
• ComfreyServes 402 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations
• HanskaServes 393 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations
• EvanServes 86 · Purchased groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations+2 monitoring or reporting
• CobdenServes 33 · Groundwater · Local governmentNo health violations