In my case just Googling and driving around helped a bit. It was kind of dumb luck that I found a place in a pretty good neighborhood (eg close to a nice small part, high up on a hillside that is probably too high to possibly flood...and close to work!).

Some of that I meant in broad strokes, though. For instance, living an area very prone to wildfires, moving to a city that's at or under sea level, etc are things that are very easy to discern.