Mohave County, Arizona: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Mohave County, Arizona has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.8 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with wildfires, heat waves and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $105 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 13 federal disaster declarations that included Mohave County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5095-AZ (Willow Fire, declared 9 August 2015). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 17 tornadoes touching Mohave County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 212,833 Buildings worth $47 billion Area 13,597 sq mi Risk rank in Arizona 3 of 15 FIPS 04015
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 98.8 | $14 million | about once every 175 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 98.6 | $12 million | about 1 a year | 66 |
| Lightning | Very High | 98.0 | $1.9 million | about 37 a year | 381,812 strikes |
| Inland flooding | Relatively High | 97.1 | $74 million | about 1 a year | 292 |
| Winter weather | Relatively High | 91.4 | $282,561 | about 5.4 a year | 102 |
| Earthquake | Relatively Low | 87.1 | $2.1 million | about once every 85 years | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 71.2 | $632,013 | about once every 3.9 years | 10 |
| Ice storm | Relatively Moderate | 68.7 | $128,625 | about once every 67 years | 0 |
| Avalanche | Relatively Low | 68.6 | $2,355 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Landslide | Relatively Low | 67.0 | $2,812 | about 7 a year | — |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 60.9 | $22 | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 3 |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 51.1 | $171,345 | about once every 8.7 years | 4.4 |
| Drought | Very Low | 20.8 | $3,079 | about 9 a year | 3,353 |
| Tornado | Very Low | 3.3 | $5,532 | about once every 3.7 years | 11 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 2.6 | — | rarer than once in 1,000 years | 0 |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Tsunami | 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 13
Most common: Severe Storm 4, Flood 4, Fire 3, Hurricane 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 2 | Flood, Drought |
| 1980s | 4 | Flood ×3, Severe Storm |
| 2000s | 4 | Severe Storm ×2, Hurricane, Fire |
| 2010s | 3 | Fire ×2, Severe Storm |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Mohave County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3241-AZ): 15 Arizona counties designated.
- Severe Storms & Flooding (1983, DR-691-AZ): 11 Arizona counties designated.
- Severe Storms & Flooding (1978, DR-551-AZ): 10 Arizona counties designated.
Named storms in its declarations: Hurricane Katrina (2005).
Not counted above: 2 COVID-19 ("Biological") declarations — in 2020 every US county was included. Arizona also had 27 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 17
| Tornadoes touching the county | 17 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F1 ×7 |
| Peak month | August (5) |
| Deadliest | 14 Mar 1979, F1, 0.5 mi path, 0 killed, 3 injured |
| Longest path | 22 Nov 1996, F1, 5 mi path |
| Most recent | 21 Aug 2022, unrated |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 4 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
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 Mohave County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohave County (this page) | — | Relatively High | 94.8 | Wildfire |
| Clark County, NV | 126 km | Very High | 99.6 | Heat wave |
| Yavapai County | 165 km | Relatively Moderate | 93.7 | Wildfire |
| Washington County, UT | 176 km | Relatively Moderate | 92.8 | Wildfire |
| Coconino County | 180 km | Relatively Moderate | 94.2 | Lightning |
| La Paz County | 222 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.5 | Inland flooding |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in Arizona, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Very High 87.3 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 3.2 |
| Community risk factor | 1.66 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $105 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 Mohave County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for Arizona · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- Heat wave: Heatstroke warning signs
- Lightning: Weather alerts for Arizona
- 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 Mohave County
What natural disasters is Mohave County, Arizona most at risk from?
Mohave County, Arizona has a Relatively High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 94.8 out of 100, higher than about 94% of US counties, with wildfires, heat waves and lightning scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $105 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Mohave County had?
OpenFEMA lists 13 federal disaster declarations that included Mohave County since 1977, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5095-AZ (Willow Fire, declared 9 August 2015). Another 27 Arizona declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Mohave County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 17 tornadoes touching Mohave County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 14 Mar 1979, F1, 0.5 mi path, 0 killed, 3 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.