Lamar County, Alabama: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Lamar County, Alabama has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 31.4 out of 100, higher than about 31% of US counties, with lightning, earthquakes and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.6 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 24 federal disaster declarations that included Lamar 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 37 tornadoes touching Lamar County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Alabama All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 13,961 Buildings worth $2.7 billion Area 612 sq mi Risk rank in Alabama 57 of 67 FIPS 01075
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Relatively High | 89.2 | $845,718 | about 67 a year | 81,313 strikes |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 74.8 | $851,731 | about once every 347 years | — |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 73.4 | $6,140 | about 1.1 a year | — |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 61.8 | $1.4 million | about once every 1.7 years | 36 |
| Hurricane | Relatively Low | 61.8 | $186,122 | about once every 18 years | 16 |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 53.4 | $806,487 | about once every 1.2 years | 16 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 50.3 | $282,696 | about 9.2 a year | 148 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 43.2 | $46,273 | about once every 1.1 years | 61 |
| Strong wind | Relatively Low | 37.9 | $288,510 | about 2.5 a year | 94 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 37.8 | $40,841 | about 19 a year | 609 |
| Inland flooding | Very Low | 31.6 | $2.7 million | about 1.8 a year | 49 |
| Hail | Very Low | 26.7 | $75,599 | about 3.7 a year | 141 |
| Wildfire | Very Low | 24.7 | $7,760 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | — |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 7.0 | $3,745 | about 3.3 a year | 62 |
| 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 24
Most common: Severe Storm 12, Hurricane 7, Tornado 2, Snowstorm 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 4 | Tornado ×2, Flood, Drought |
| 1990s | 2 | Severe Storm, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 9 | Severe Storm ×5, Hurricane ×4 |
| 2010s | 6 | Severe Storm ×5, Hurricane |
| 2020s | 3 | Hurricane ×2, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Lamar 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).
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 37
| Tornadoes touching the county | 37 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F5 ×1 |
| Peak month | November (9) |
| Deadliest | 3 Apr 1974, F5, 79.5 mi path, 28 killed, 272 injured |
| Longest path | 3 Apr 1974, F5, 79.5 mi path, 28 killed, 272 injured |
| Most recent | 28 Dec 2024, EF1, 5.1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 30 / 286 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 12 | 17 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 1 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 4 |
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 Lamar County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar County (this page) | — | Very Low | 31.4 | Lightning |
| Fayette County | 34 km | Very Low | 38.2 | Landslide |
| Monroe County, MS | 38 km | Relatively Low | 68.5 | Cold wave |
| Marion County | 44 km | Relatively Low | 69.1 | Lightning |
| Lowndes County, MS | 47 km | Relatively Low | 80.9 | Tornado |
| Pickens County | 55 km | Relatively Low | 44.7 | Heat wave |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alabama, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively High 74.9 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Low 25.5 |
| Community risk factor | 1.40 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $7.6 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 Lamar County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Alabama · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Alabama
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- 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 Lamar County
What natural disasters is Lamar County, Alabama most at risk from?
Lamar County, Alabama has a Very Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 31.4 out of 100, higher than about 31% of US counties, with lightning, earthquakes and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.6 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Lamar County had?
OpenFEMA lists 24 federal disaster declarations that included Lamar 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 Lamar County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 37 tornadoes touching Lamar County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 3 Apr 1974, F5, 79.5 mi path, 28 killed, 272 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.