St. Clair County, Alabama: Natural Disaster Risk and History
St. Clair County, Alabama has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 72.1 out of 100, higher than about 72% of US counties, with tornadoes, landslides and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $33 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 28 federal disaster declarations that included St. Clair 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 43 tornadoes touching St. Clair County from 1950 to 2025.
Live weather alerts for Alabama All official warnings Latest FEMA declarations
Population 90,899 Buildings worth $15 billion Area 660 sq mi Risk rank in Alabama 26 of 67 FIPS 01115
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 | 91.8 | $8.7 million | about once every 1.6 years | 43 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 85.1 | $31,979 | about once every 1.1 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 75.9 | $18 million | about once a year | 29 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 74.9 | $1.2 million | about once every 360 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 73.6 | $1.1 million | about 3.3 a year | 125 |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | 71.8 | $209,554 | about once every 592 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively Low | 71.7 | $1.0 million | about 5.7 a year | 90 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 70.8 | $540,040 | about 66 a year | 181,842 strikes |
| Cold wave | Relatively Low | 62.4 | $1.6 million | about once every 1.1 years | 17 |
| Hurricane | Very Low | 56.7 | $150,780 | about once every 24 years | 14 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 44.2 | $102,842 | about 29 a year | 854 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Low | 40.8 | $57,743 | about once every 2.6 years | 26 |
| Hail | Very Low | 30.9 | $131,386 | about 4.5 a year | 172 |
| Winter weather | Very Low | 18.1 | $16,671 | about 3 a year | 57 |
| 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 28
Most common: Severe Storm 12, Hurricane 8, Flood 4, Tornado 2.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 8 | Flood ×4, Tornado ×2, Drought, Severe Storm |
| 1990s | 5 | Severe Storm ×3, Hurricane, Snowstorm |
| 2000s | 7 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane ×3 |
| 2010s | 6 | Severe Storm ×4, Hurricane ×2 |
| 2020s | 2 | Hurricane ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included St. Clair 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 Nate (2017), 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 43
| Tornadoes touching the county | 43 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F4 ×1 |
| Peak month | April (10) |
| Deadliest | 27 Mar 1994, F4, 50 mi path, 22 killed, 150 injured |
| Longest path | 25 Mar 2021, EF3, 50.1 mi path, 0 killed, 5 injured |
| Most recent | 29 Dec 2024, EF0, 2.3 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 28 / 370 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 7 | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 14 | 9 | 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 St. Clair County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Clair County (this page) | — | Relatively Low | 72.1 | Tornado |
| Blount County | 38 km | Relatively Low | 68.5 | Tornado |
| Talladega County | 40 km | Relatively Moderate | 84.7 | Tornado |
| Etowah County | 45 km | Relatively Moderate | 87.3 | Tornado |
| Calhoun County | 46 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.5 | Tornado |
| Jefferson County | 57 km | Relatively High | 97.6 | Tornado |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Alabama, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Low 30.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively Moderate 42.0 |
| Community risk factor | 0.99 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $33 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 St. Clair 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?
- Landslide: Landslides recorded
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods 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 St. Clair County
What natural disasters is St. Clair County, Alabama most at risk from?
St. Clair County, Alabama has a Relatively Low natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 72.1 out of 100, higher than about 72% of US counties, with tornadoes, landslides and inland (river and flash) flooding scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $33 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has St. Clair County had?
OpenFEMA lists 28 federal disaster declarations that included St. Clair 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 St. Clair County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 43 tornadoes touching St. Clair County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 27 Mar 1994, F4, 50 mi path, 22 killed, 150 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.