Badge Quest
Do not seek out these events. They will find you. Badge Quest is a game, not an official alert source. Always follow official instructions from your local authorities and the alert itself. Not affiliated with FEMA, the National Weather Service or the FCC.

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CASCADE badge: 8-bit pixel art for the Flash Flood Warning alert

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CORE BADGE

CASCADE BADGE

ALERT
Flash Flood Warning
CODES
FFW
RARITY
★☆☆☆☆ COMMON
UPGRADE
NIAGARA after 10 alerts

“Turn around, don't drown. Your car is not a boat.”

⚠ Do not seek out these events. They will find you.

Never travel toward a storm, fire, flood or any emergency to earn a badge. This page is general safety information, not an alert. If you get a real alert, follow the instructions in it and from local officials.

What this alert means

A Flash Flood Warning (FFW) means flash flooding is happening or about to happen. Flash floods can rise in minutes, often in canyons, low spots, washes and city streets.

NWS issues several thousand Flash Flood Warnings a year, but only sends the ones tagged with a considerable or catastrophic damage threat (including Flash Flood Emergencies) to phones.

What to do if you get one

  • Move to higher ground immediately. Do not wait for water to reach you.
  • Turn Around, Don't Drown. Never walk, swim or drive through floodwater. About 6 inches of moving water can knock you down, and about 1 foot can sweep a car away.
  • Stay out of creeks, washes, slot canyons and underpasses.
  • Do not drive around barricades. Roads under water may be washed out.

Summarized from the official guidance below. The alert itself and your local authorities always come first.

How the badge is earned

Your home area is inside a WEA-tagged Flash Flood Warning polygon.

It happens automatically. The Badge Quest server reads the public FEMA IPAWS and National Weather Service alert feeds and awards the badge when an alert's official target area covers the home area you set (ZIP code or location). There's nothing to log or claim, and it can't be faked.

How rare is it?

COMMON ★☆☆☆☆: the COMMON tier means 1,000 or more WEA messages a year nationally. ~1,177 WEA messages/yr nationally (2023-25 avg: 866 / 1,268 / 1,397).

WEA-flagged alert messages in FEMA's IPAWS archive (IPAWS archive filter: FFW). One message can cover a small area, so your personal odds are much lower.
YearCASCADE messagesAll WEA messages
20238667,349
20241,26810,377
20251,39710,284
Avg / yr1,1779,337

NWS issued ~3,700-5,200 Flash Flood Warnings/yr (IEM), and roughly 1 in 4 went to phones.

How rarity is calculated

Upgrade: NIAGARA

CASCADE badgeNIAGARA, the upgraded CASCADE badge: pixel art

NIAGARA

★★☆☆☆ UNCOMMON

After 10 different qualifying alerts for your area, the game shows “Hold on... your CASCADE badge is upgrading!” and then “Your CASCADE badge was upgraded to a NIAGARA!”. Repeats of the same alert don't count twice.

“Ten flash floods. You have turned around, not drowned, so many times it counts as cardio.”

Upgraded badges rank one rarity tier above their base badge (capped at LEGENDARY). That tier is a game rule, not a separate statistic.

Part of these combo badges

Official sources

Rarity data

Collect them all

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