Butte County, California: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Butte County, California has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 93.9 out of 100, higher than about 93% of US counties, with drought, wildfires and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $127 million a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 37 federal disaster declarations that included Butte County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5519-CA (Park Fire, declared 25 July 2024). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 18 tornadoes touching Butte County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 211,490 Buildings worth $48 billion Area 1,694 sq mi Risk rank in California 32 of 58 FIPS 06007
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drought | Very High | 99.7 | $26 million | about 67 a year | 2,303 |
| Wildfire | Relatively High | 98.5 | $16 million | about once every 200 years | — |
| Landslide | Relatively Moderate | 97.6 | $387,646 | about 21 a year | — |
| Earthquake | Relatively Moderate | 97.5 | $34 million | about once every 25 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Relatively Moderate | 93.2 | $48 million | about 1.4 a year | 38 |
| Heat wave | Relatively Moderate | 82.0 | $1.4 million | about 6.9 a year | 80 |
| Volcanic activity | Very Low | 79.5 | $392 | about once every 909 years | 2 |
| Lightning | Relatively Moderate | 68.1 | $400,015 | about 12 a year | 60,467 strikes |
| Hail | Relatively Low | 34.0 | $120,975 | about once every 8.7 years | 4.4 |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | 28.2 | $389,073 | about once every 6.8 years | 16 |
| Avalanche | Very Low | 27.8 | $76 | about once every 100 years | 0 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Low | 25.9 | $21,053 | about 11 a year | 205 |
| Strong wind | Very Low | 12.1 | $80,538 | about once every 64 years | 1 |
| Cold wave | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Coastal flooding | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Hurricane | Not Applicable | — | — | — | — |
| Ice storm | 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 37
Most common: Fire 17, Severe Storm 9, Flood 6, Dam/Levee Break 1.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 2 | Drought, Flood |
| 1980s | 2 | Flood, Coastal Storm |
| 1990s | 6 | Severe Storm ×4, Fire, Freezing |
| 2000s | 7 | Fire ×5, Severe Storm, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 11 | Fire ×7, Severe Storm ×2, Flood, Dam/Levee Break |
| 2020s | 8 | Fire ×4, Severe Storm ×2, Flood ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Butte County
- Hurricane Katrina Evacuation (2005, EM-3248-CA): 58 California counties designated.
- Severe Winter Storms, Flooding Landslides, Mud Flow (1995, DR-1046-CA): 57 California counties designated.
- Severe Storms, Flooding, Mud and Landslides (1997, DR-1155-CA): 48 California 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. California also had 30 statewide declarations with no county list.
Tornado record since 1950 18
| Tornadoes touching the county | 18 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×2 |
| Peak month | March (5) |
| Deadliest | 17 Dec 1992, F1, 1 mi path, 0 killed, 4 injured |
| Longest path | 28 Jun 1970, F1, 2.3 mi path |
| Most recent | 19 Dec 2023, EF1, 0.4 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 6 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 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 Butte County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Butte County (this page) | — | Relatively Moderate | 93.9 | Drought |
| Yuba County | 49 km | Relatively Low | 80.9 | Drought |
| Glenn County | 68 km | Relatively Low | 74.4 | Drought |
| Sutter County | 71 km | Relatively Moderate | 83.7 | Drought |
| Tehama County | 74 km | Relatively Moderate | 88.9 | Drought |
| Plumas County | 75 km | Relatively Moderate | 86.4 | Wildfire |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in California, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 59.0 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Relatively High 60.4 |
| Community risk factor | 1.20 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $127 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 Butte County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for California · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Drought: Drought monitor for California
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Butte County
What natural disasters is Butte County, California most at risk from?
Butte County, California has a Relatively Moderate natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 93.9 out of 100, higher than about 93% of US counties, with drought, wildfires and landslides scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $127 million a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Butte County had?
OpenFEMA lists 37 federal disaster declarations that included Butte County since 1964, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5519-CA (Park Fire, declared 25 July 2024). Another 30 California declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Butte County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 18 tornadoes touching Butte County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 17 Dec 1992, F1, 1 mi path, 0 killed, 4 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.