Etowah County, Alabama: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Etowah County, Alabama has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 87.3 out of 100, higher than about 87% of US counties, with tornadoes, strong winds and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $50 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 27 federal disaster declarations that included Etowah County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3618-AL (Hurricane Helene, declared 26 September 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 34 tornadoes touching Etowah County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 103,320 Buildings worth $21 billion Area 554 sq mi Risk rank in Alabama 11 of 67 FIPS 01055
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tornado | Relatively High | 97.8 | $17 million | about once every 1.9 years | 31 |
| Strong wind | Relatively High | 94.6 | $2.2 million | about 4.1 a year | 155 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 88.3 | $3.1 million | about once every 341 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 87.5 | $23 million | about once a year | 27 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 79.0 | $516,694 | about 63 a year | 271,716 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Moderate | 77.7 | $2.3 million | about once every 1.1 years | 17 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 77.7 | $9,352 | about once every 2.1 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 77.6 | $1.0 million | about 4.6 a year | 78 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 72.7 | $160,663 | about once every 524 years | — |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 68.4 | $383,623 | about once every 29 years | 12 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 60.1 | $286,252 | about 4.8 a year | 183 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 56.3 | $84,322 | about once every 2.2 years | 31 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 48.3 | $96,628 | about 28 a year | 819 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 27.7 | $19,956 | about 3.7 a year | 70 |
| Avalanche | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Volcanic activity | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
Score: FEMA's percentile among US counties that face the hazard (higher = more risk). Expected loss: FEMA's modelled average yearly loss to buildings, people (as a statistical value) and crops. How often: FEMA's annualised frequency of the hazard in the county; for some hazards it counts event-days, so it is a rough guide, not a forecast. "Not Applicable" means FEMA does not model that hazard here.
Federal disaster declarations 27
Most common: Severe Storm 12, Hurricane 7, Flood 3, Tornado 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 6 | Flood ×3, Tornado ×2, Drought |
| 1990s | 5 | Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 8 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane ×3, Fire |
| 2010s | 5 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane |
| 2020s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Etowah County
- Hurricane Helene (2024, EM-3618-AL): 67 Alabama counties designated.
- Hurricane Sally (2020, EM-3545-AL): 67 Alabama counties designated.
- Hurricane Irma (2017, EM-3389-AL): 67 Alabama counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Helene (2024), Hurricane Sally (2020), Hurricane Irma (2017), Hurricane Gustav (2008), Hurricane Katrina (2005), Hurricane Ivan (2004), Hurricane Opal (1995).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Alabama also had 1 statewide declaration with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 34
| Tornadoes touching the county | 34 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (14) |
| Deadliest | 27 May 1973, F3, 41.6 mi path, 1 killed, 44 injured |
| Longest path | 27 May 1973, F3, 41.6 mi path, 1 killed, 44 injured |
| Most recent | 1 Apr 2023, EF0, 3.1 mi path, 0 killed, 2 injured |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 1 / 119 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 7 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 5 |
Deaths and injuries are for each tornado's whole path, which can run beyond this county. F-scale ratings before February 2007, Enhanced Fujita (EF) after.
How Etowah County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Etowah County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 87.3 | Tornado |
| Calhoun County | 36 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.5 | Tornado |
| Cherokee County | 42 km | Relatively Low | 63.3 | Drought |
| Marshall County | 44 km | Relatively Moderate | 87.3 | Tornado |
| St. Clair County | 45 km | Relatively Low | 72.1 | Tornado |
| Blount County | 50 km | Relatively Low | 68.5 | Tornado |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alabama, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 78.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 57.6 |
| Community risk factor | 1.39 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $50 million |
FEMA scales expected losses up where social vulnerability is high (people who may find it harder to prepare, evacuate or recover) and down where community resilience is high. A factor above 1 raises the risk score. For social vulnerability a high rating is worse; for resilience a high rating is better.
Prepare for Etowah County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Alabama · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Tornado: Is there a tornado warning now?
- Strong wind: Power outages now
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Your property's flood zone: FEMA Flood Map Service Center ↗ — this page cannot tell you that.
- Official preparedness guidance: Ready.gov ↗ and your county emergency management office.
What this page shows, and what it misses
FEMA's National Risk Index rates a whole county against every other US county; it is a planning-level estimate for nationwide comparison, not a flood-zone map and not a substitute for a local risk assessment or the risk to one home. Declarations are presidential disaster, emergency and fire management declarations that named this county; state declarations and SBA or USDA designations are not included. Tornadoes are counted when the county is one of up to four listed on the track; 670 tornadoes that crossed a state line carry no county list in NOAA's file and are left out.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Risk Index Dataset: National Risk Index Counties - v1.20.0 (December 2025). Retrieved from https://services.arcgis.com/XG15cJAlne2vxtgt/ArcGIS/rest/services/National_Risk_Index_Counties/FeatureServer/0/query on November 2, 2026, 1:20 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index dataset API or downloadable datasets but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), OpenFEMA Dataset: Disaster Declarations Summaries - v2, retrieved from https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries on November 2, 2026, 1:21 PM EST. This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency's OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).
Tornado records: NOAA/NWS Storm Prediction Center, Severe Weather Database, tornadoes 1950–2025 (https://www.spc.noaa.gov/wcm/data/1950-2025_actual_tornadoes.csv, downloaded 2 November 2026). Public domain; not endorsed by NOAA. Compiled by Global Incident Tracker.
Questions about Etowah County
What natural disasters is Etowah County, Alabama most at risk from?
Etowah County, Alabama has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 87.3 out of 100, higher than about 87% of US counties, with tornadoes, strong winds and earthquakes scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $50 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Etowah County had?
OpenFEMA lists 27 federal disaster declarations that included Etowah County since 1973, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is EM-3618-AL (Hurricane Helene, declared 26 September 2024). Another 1 Alabama declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Etowah County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 34 tornadoes touching Etowah County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 27 May 1973, F3, 41.6 mi path, 1 killed, 44 injured (deaths and injuries are for the whole path).
Is the National Risk Index a flood zone map?
No. The National Risk Index is a planning-level estimate for a whole county, built for nationwide comparison. It does not tell you the flood zone or the risk of a single property: for that, look up the address on FEMA's Flood Map Service Center (msc.fema.gov) and ask your local floodplain manager.