Los Angeles County, California: Natural Disaster Risk and History
Los Angeles County, California has a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 100.0 out of 100, higher than about 100% of US counties, with earthquakes, inland (river and flash) flooding and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.6 billion a year in expected losses.
OpenFEMA lists 86 federal disaster declarations that included Los Angeles County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5605-CA (Canyon Fire, declared 8 August 2025). NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 49 tornadoes touching Los Angeles County from 1950 to 2025.
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Population 10,005,712 Buildings worth $1,704 billion Area 4,797 sq mi Risk rank in California 1 of 58 FIPS 06037
All 18 hazards, highest risk first
FEMA National Risk Index| Hazard | Risk rating | Score | Expected loss a year | How often | Events in record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Earthquake | Very High | 100.0 | $4.6 billion | about once every 11 years | — |
| Inland flooding | Very High | 100.0 | $2.8 billion | about 4 a year | 111 |
| Wildfire | Very High | 99.9 | $155 million | about once every 120 years | — |
| Heat wave | Relatively High | 99.3 | $37 million | about 9.5 a year | 85 |
| Landslide | Relatively High | 99.3 | $1.5 million | about 79 a year | — |
| Tornado | Relatively High | 97.7 | $18 million | about once every 2.0 years | 29 |
| Lightning | Very High | 96.9 | $2.1 million | about 8.4 a year | 827,257 strikes |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | 93.0 | $2.0 million | about once every 10 years | 3.8 |
| Avalanche | Relatively High | 92.4 | $1.8 million | about once every 7.5 years | 4 |
| Coastal flooding | Relatively High | 90.0 | $5.2 million | about 2.2 a year | — |
| Strong wind | Relatively Moderate | 75.2 | $971,376 | about once every 6.9 years | 5 |
| Winter weather | Relatively Moderate | 74.8 | $141,928 | about 6.6 a year | 107 |
| Tsunami | Relatively Low | 64.6 | $3.3 million | about once every 2.6 years | 83 |
| Drought | Relatively Low | 43.5 | $79,529 | about 82 a year | 3,759 |
| Cold wave | Very Low | 5.8 | $24,149 | about once every 31 years | 0.5 |
| Hurricane | No Rating | 0.0 | — | — | 0 |
| Ice storm | 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 86
Most common: Fire 61, Flood 10, Severe Storm 8, Earthquake 3.
| Decade | Declarations | Incident types |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 1 | Flood |
| 1970s | 4 | Fire ×2, Flood, Earthquake |
| 1980s | 5 | Flood ×2, Earthquake, Coastal Storm, Fire |
| 1990s | 11 | Fire ×4, Severe Storm ×3, Flood ×2, Earthquake, Freezing |
| 2000s | 30 | Fire ×26, Severe Storm ×2, Freezing, Hurricane |
| 2010s | 21 | Fire ×19, Flood, Severe Storm |
| 2020s | 14 | Fire ×9, Flood ×3, Severe Storm ×2 |
The last 10
Widest declarations that included Los Angeles 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 Winter Storms, Straight-Line Winds, Flooding, Landslides, and Mudslides (2023, DR-4699-CA): 46 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 49
| Tornadoes touching the county | 49 |
|---|---|
| Strongest-rated | (E)F2 ×5 |
| Peak month | January (7) |
| Deadliest | 1 Mar 1983, F2, 3.5 mi path, 0 killed, 30 injured |
| Longest path | 7 Nov 1966, F2, 10.3 mi path, 0 killed, 10 injured |
| Most recent | 13 Mar 2025, EF0, 1 mi path |
| Deaths / injuries on those paths | 0 / 46 |
| Rating | (E)F0 | (E)F1 | (E)F2 | (E)F3 | (E)F4 | (E)F5 | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 32 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Decade | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 3 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 1 | 6 |
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 Los Angeles County compares with its 5 nearest counties
| County | Distance | Overall risk | Score | Top hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles County (this page) | — | Very High | 100.0 | Earthquake |
| Ventura County | 80 km | Relatively High | 99.4 | Wildfire |
| Orange County | 81 km | Very High | 99.8 | Earthquake |
| Kern County | 122 km | Relatively High | 98.9 | Wildfire |
| Santa Barbara County | 169 km | Relatively High | 99.0 | Landslide |
| San Bernardino County | 196 km | Very High | 99.8 | Landslide |
Nearest by distance between county centres. Every county in California, ranked.
Vulnerability and resilience
| Social vulnerability | Relatively Moderate 55.4 |
|---|---|
| Community resilience | Very Low 13.5 |
| Community risk factor | 1.21 |
| Expected annual loss, all hazards | $7.6 billion |
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 Los Angeles County's main hazards
- Right now: National Weather Service alerts for California · all official warnings on Global Incident Tracker.
- Earthquake: Earthquakes today · Earthquake safety guide
- Inland flooding: Flood safety: why shallow water kills · Floods recorded
- Wildfire: US wildfires now · Wildfire smoke: what protects you
- 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 Los Angeles County
What natural disasters is Los Angeles County, California most at risk from?
Los Angeles County, California has a Very High natural-hazard risk rating in FEMA's National Risk Index (v1.20, December 2025): a score of 100.0 out of 100, higher than about 100% of US counties, with earthquakes, inland (river and flash) flooding and wildfires scoring highest of its 18 hazards and $7.6 billion a year in expected losses.
How many federal disaster declarations has Los Angeles County had?
OpenFEMA lists 86 federal disaster declarations that included Los Angeles County since 1969, not counting 2 for COVID-19; the latest is FM-5605-CA (Canyon Fire, declared 8 August 2025). Another 30 California declarations were made statewide without a county list.
How many tornadoes have hit Los Angeles County?
NOAA's Storm Prediction Center recorded 49 tornadoes touching Los Angeles County from 1950 to 2025. The deadliest: 1 Mar 1983, F2, 3.5 mi path, 0 killed, 30 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.